Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Biden tells Petraeus: Time to bring troops home

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: Biden tells Petraeus: Time to bring troops home

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Joe Biden told Gen. David Petraeus "It's time to end the surge and bring the troops home" from Iraq. Opening a Senate hearing on progress in Iraq, the Delaware Democrat said he found little reason to believe that sectarian violence will end in Iraq.

"Are we any closer to a lasting political settlement? If we continue to surge, is there any evidence Sunnis, Shias and Kurds will stop killing?" Biden asked Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. "The answer to both those questions is 'No,' " Biden said.

Biden, who was interviewed Tuesday morning on CNN, has been engaged with the Iraq issue for years and has been favorable to the idea of a partition of Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions. "The truth of the matter is that Petraeus is going to try to make the administration's case. That's his job. He is going to pick the facts that help him make that case the most.

"And my job is to try to get to the root of it and ask the central questions basically are we better off today than we were before the surge. The answer to that so far from what I've heard and seen on the ground is no."...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/11/iraq.senate/index.html

[jillan]

1. Biden has been saying that all year.

This hearing should be interesting.

Altho I must confess, I have a hard time listening to Crocker - and unfortunately for me, what he has to say
is extremely important.

[Magleetis]

2. The statement

The truth of the matter is that Petraeus is going to try to make the administration's case. That's his job. He is going to pick the facts that help him make that case the most.

says it all to me.

It is no coincidence that the testimony of Petraeus and Crocker sounds just like the message that * has been trumpeting around the country lately.

The message is more war plain and simple, because they are all in the business of war. I think Biden has the right idea, but I fear that he is too late.

[murbley40]

4. He has been pushing his plan for Iraq for a very long time.

[lyonn]

3. Biden's opening statement was excellent.

I feel confident the Dems are going to ask the right questions, the questions is, will these two answer them and not give a desertation on what "they think" and throw in some statistics. ugh

[sandnsea]

5. War to continue, more troops will die

I think they all need to change focus and tell the American people Bush is going to continue the war for the remainder of his presidency. I don't know that that is clear in all of this. There's no diplomatic strategy which means troops will die for nothing.