Sen. Reed: Petraeus is ready for changed Iraq course

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said his impression from a conversation with General David Petraeus was that the leader of U.S. troops in Iraq “seemed very eager to come forward as quickly as possible with a new direction and policy.”

Reed, the co-sponsor of legislation that would require President Bush to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by April of next year, recently made his tenth trip to Iraq and spoke with Petraeus, who is slated to report to Congress in September on the progress of the war.

{mosads}The senator said, in an interview with C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” show that is expected to air Sunday, that he was surprised that Petraeus went out of his way to say that he might have something to say in August and not wait until September.

Reed argued that the chance of making significant progress in Iraq until September “are very bleak indeed.”

He pointed to two reports that surfaced this week as evidence for this opinion – an assessment report on whether satisfactory progress is being made in Iraq on a number of benchmarks, and news accounts of an intelligence estimate that says the al Qaeda terrorist network is regaining strength.

While the Iraq report shows mixed progress “on the surface,” Reed argued that “very little or no progress” has been made on the most critical issues, such as passing an oil law.

With regard to the assessment of al Qaeda strengthening again, the senator said “a lot of people are really wondering across the country what’s been happening in the last six years and questioning sort of the huge investment of resources in Iraq when in fact the existential threat, the people who are daily and ruthlessly plotting to attack this country, seems to have been able to reestablish themselves.”

The language that Reed supports is expected to be voted on next week in the Senate.