Washington - General David Petraeus, the top US commander in
Iraq, began testifying before Congress on Monday in a crucial report
on the progress made in Iraq since President George W Bush expanded
the US presence in the country.
Petraeus' report has been seen as crucial in determining whether
Bush can stem the growing opposition to the war and will likely focus
the debate on whether the president should begin withdrawing some of
the more than 160,000 US soldiers in Iraq.
The two Democratic chairmen presiding over the hearing,
Representatives Ike Skelton and Tom Lantos, were sceptical about
whether the situation in Iraq can be turned around with an Iraqi
government that has made little progress toward reconciling
differences between Iraqi ethnic and religious groups.
'No one can make the case the that Iraqi government has made great
strides,' Skelton said in his opening remarks.
Petraeus is expected to urge lawmakers to support maintaining the
current size of the US force in Iraq for the next several months,
despite increasing pressure to begin troop withdrawals.
Petraeus and the US ambassador in Iraq, Ryan Crocker, will appear
before two House committees to give their political and security
assessment of Iraq as part of a congressionally mandated report.
Bush's troop surge has produced some security improvements in
parts of Iraq - an achievement highly touted by the Bush
administration. But hoped-for political progress among Iraqi
factions has been elusive.
White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters Monday the report
by Petraeus and Crocker was independent and had not been vetted by
Bush.
He lashed out against Democratic critics who charged that Petraeus
had too rosy a view of progress in Iraq and was doing Bush's bidding.
'The president certainly has had conversations with them and has
been briefed by them. But this is not something where the White House
... is going to tell these guys what to do,' Snow told reporters.
'He was briefed by them last week and he's had conversations. He
said he liked what he heard from them. But on the other hand, the
White House has not played any role in putting together the
testimony,' he said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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