The message from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker’s opening statements to the Senate Armed Services Committee is that there has been significant progress in Iraq since September, but that his progress is fragile and that any rapid change in strategy would endanger it. The main news in Petraeus’s testimony was his commitment to a 45 day pause in troops withdrawals once US troop levels have been returned to a pre-surge level and his dismissal of the idea of a fixed timetable for withdrawal. Also worth noting from Petreaus’s evidence were his comments on the role of Iran and Hezbollah in training the extremist Shiite special groups and his contention that ‘Iraqi leaders now recognise the threat posed’ by Iran’s actions.
Ambassador Crocker’s statement was actually more interesting than Petraeus’s. Crocker’s testimony was upbeat, pointing to significant political and economic progress in Iraq since September.
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