Graham: Iraq hearings a White House audition

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday’s hearings on the situation in Iraq, which featured five presidential candidates asking questions to Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, turned into a White House tryout.

{mosads}“I think there are a lot of people auditioning for commander in chief right now, based on whether or not we should withdraw or reinforce our success,” Graham told The Hill outside the hearing room.

Graham is a strong backer of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who was the sole Republican running for the White House to ask questions of Petraeus and Crocker. McCain, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, is highly supportive of the troop surge, and Graham believes this view could pay dividends next year.

“Everybody thinks that ’08 is going to be a terrible political year for Republicans because of Iraq,” he said. “My belief is that the statements you are making now about what to do in Iraq will be looked at in ’08 in terms of whether or not you are ready to be commander in chief.”

Graham added that the evidence shows the surge is successful and said candidates who simply want to withdraw troops now without thinking about the consequences do not deserve to be president.

The senator thinks Democrats are making the same mistake that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did by allowing past statements to get in the way of facts.

“You say things and you get locked in to what you said in the past and then you can’t see the situation for what it really is,” said Graham, who added that the troop surge clearly is bringing successes “that we have never achieved before.”

Graham said that Democrats were overly intent on backing up their previous statements that the war has been lost and the surge is not working.

On the Democratic side, four presidential candidates were part of the hearings. Sens. Joseph Biden (Del.), Chris Dodd (Conn.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) are part of the Foreign Relations Committee and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) is a member of the Armed Services panel.

In general, Graham had praise for how Congress conducted itself during the hearings.

“I don’t know if this is Geneva Convention-compliant in terms of an interrogation technique,” the senator quipped. “My colleagues are asking tough questions and I think the Congress, for the most part, has acquitted itself well.”