Sides entrench for Petraeus’s Iraq testimony

The war of words over Iraq continued to break along familiar fault lines Monday, one day before Gen. David Petraeus’s highly anticipated return to Capitol Hill.

On the Senate floor, on the campaign trail and over conference call phone lines, Democrats charged that the Bush administration continues to steer the military down a disastrous path in Iraq, while Republicans continued to insist that the war has turned a corner and withdrawing troops would hasten defeat.

{mosads}Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are scheduled to review the impact of last year’s U.S. troop increase, the status of further troop withdrawals and the state of Iraq’s political stability to the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. They will do so in a polarized atmosphere that will be even more hyper-partisan given the attendance at the hearings of all three presidential candidates. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) both sit on Armed Services, while Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is a Foreign Relations member.

All three are expected to attend, and McCain will get a prime speaking spot as the ranking Republican on Armed Services. Clinton and Obama are not expected to speak out of rotation. McCain, on the campaign trail Monday, praised the “dramatic” reduction in violence and said in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Mo., that “political reconciliation is occurring across Iraq.”

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said the administration has been continually wrong in its statements and predictions even though American troops have responded valiantly.

“The question that all of our colleagues are asking now of Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker is whether or not we have a strategy that’s worthy of the sacrifice that they’re being called on to make and are making.” Kerry said.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) countered that the surge has quelled violence.

He and other Republicans say Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government is taking root and tensions between Shiite and Sunni factions are easing. Withdrawing U.S. troops would ruin those hard-fought gains, they say.

In predicting this week’s testimony, Kyl said, “It does appear … that it will be a mixed report as usual, but a report which generally speaks very highly of the progress that American military forces have made.

“The facts on the ground have improved.”

At least one rare moment of bipartisan agreement may open up — both Democratic and Republican senators say they plan to press Petraeus and Crocker to explain why U.S. taxpayers continue to fund Iraq’s reconstruction when Iraq has racked up billions of dollars in surplus oil sales — largely from U.S. consumers. Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on Friday called the situation “outrageous,” as one Democratic estimate puts the amount of Iraqi oil sales profits at $8 billion. Kyl on Monday said he agreed that those funds should be pressed into use but also said the very fact that Iraq now has healthy oil sales proves the war has restored much of the country’s stability.

“I do agree with the point that it should be spent by the Iraqis. We’re trying to get that done,” Kyl said. “Republicans are going to be looking at that too. We don’t want Iraqis foisting the bill on the backs of American taxpayers when they have the funds to put toward these reconstruction efforts themselves. That’s one of the things that could cause Republicans to take a different position on this. But I do suggest that we hear what our representatives have to say about that before taking positions.”

Kyl, however, said the Senate’s partisan divide over the war is unlikely to change, since the GOP will force Democrats to amass an as-yet unreachable threshold of 60 votes before any substantial war policy changes are possible.

Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Democrats plan to press Petraeus hard at the hearings.

“Gen. Petraeus is going to have to respond to some of these questions: ‘When will our troops come home?’ ‘Has the war in Iraq made our country safer?’ ” Reid said. “These are the questions that matter, and our country deserves a fair assessment.”