US general grilled over Bush's Iraq strategy

Democrats and President George W Bush's Republicans have grilled the top US commander in Iraq, questioning whether security gains were significant enough to keep US troops in the war zone.

General David Petraeus and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker insisted progress was being made under Bush's strategy of temporarily building up troops to allow time for Iraqi lawmakers to achieve political reconciliation.

But the bipartisan criticism directed at both men during congressional hearings raised questions about whether Bush could count on Republican colleagues for help in staving off Democrats' demands for a faster pullout.

Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican critic of the unpopular war, struck at the heart of Bush's justification for increased force levels, asking why troops should stay when their presence had not led Iraqi politicians make needed political compromises.

"Are we going to continue to invest American blood and treasure at the same rate we're doing now? For what? The president said, 'Let's buy time.' Buy time? For what?" Hagel said.

Influential Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, who last month urged Bush to send a message to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by withdrawing some US troops by Christmas, sounded deeply sceptical of current strategy.

"I hope in the recesses of your heart that you know that strategy will continue the casualties, the stress on our forces, the stress on military families, the stress on all Americans," he told Petraeus.

Warner asked if the general's recommendations would make the United States safer – a reference to Bush's argument that Iraq is a central front in the war on terrorism.

"Sir, I don't know, actually," Petraeus replied, saying he was concentrating on his military mission in Iraq.

But Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican who joined war critics in 2006, said Petraeus' testimony appeared to secure Republican support for Bush. He predicted any legislation that set a withdrawal deadline would not pass.

Bush is expected to give a speech later this week on Iraq but has shown no signs of ordering drastic withdrawals. The United States now has 168,000 troops in Iraq.

"It sounds to me as if General Petraeus is presenting a plan for at least a 10-year, high-level US presence in Iraq," House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a White House meeting with Bush and other congressional leaders.

The California Democrat said she told Bush he should explain to Americans "why our country should have to continue to make that commitment."

DRAWDOWN PLAN

Petraeus repeated his plan – outlined on Monday – to gradually pull out the extra 30,000 "surge" forces and bring troop levels back down to about 130,000 by next summer.

But Petraeus said he could not predict how quickly troop levels would fall after the summer and his force should still protect the Iraqi population, not focus solely on handing over to Iraqi forces and conducting counter-terrorism missions.

Iraq's government on Tuesday welcomed Petraeus' testimony and said it would have less need for foreign forces to carry out combat operations soon.

"We expect in the near future that our need will be diminished for the multinational forces to conduct direct combat operations," Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said.

But Democrats criticised the Iraqi government for not achieving political benchmarks.

Asked by Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, a 2008 presidential candidate, about his degree of confidence that the Maliki government will begin "to do the things that we've been asking them to do for a long time," Crocker replied: "My level of confidence is under control."

The ambassador noted an effort by Maliki and other leaders to work out some national issues, including an announcement last month of agreement in principle on establishing provincial powers and on relaxing a ban on former members of the late President Saddam Hussein's Baath party from public service.

"These are modest achievements but I nonetheless find them somewhat encouraging," he said.

Underlining their continued leading combat role, US forces targeting an al Qaeda network in northwest Iraq killed eight suspected insurgents on Tuesday, the US military said. US troops killed another 15 insurgents around Baghdad.

The powerful political movement loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr dismissed the general's arguments and demanded a timetable for a full withdrawal.

Many tens of thousands of Iraqis and more than 3,700 US troops have died since the war began in 2003.

- Reuters