McClatchy Blog: Day 1 - Gen. Petreaus on Capitol Hill

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/19584.html

Blog: Day 1 - Gen. Petreaus on Capitol Hill
By Nancy Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers


11: 37 a.m.

(Gen.) Petraeus suddenly walks into the hearing room. A rapid succession of clicks come from the cameras. "Recon" he says, as in, he wants to get the lay of the land before his long-awaited testimony. No sooner than he arrives, he leaves again.

He will be testifying before 107 members of Congress all at once. In front of each member's seat is a stack of papers. It's not a copy of the testimony. No one will see that beforehand, not even the White House, Petraeus' people tell me. The papers are a summary of the laws that Congress has recently passed on the war and why they are holding today's hearing. In the last bunch of papers are about a dozen graphics, including a map of Baghdad.

11:02 a.m.

More than four hours before Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are scheduled to begin testifying at 12:30 p.m., lines begin to form in the usually staid hallways outside the congressional hearing room.

Women wearing bright pink tiaras and capes are at the front of the line. On the floor in front of them are snack bars and the latest edition of Time magazine, which has the general on the cover. They've covered themselves with buttons that read things such as "Impeach him" and "No to Iran." Many have "3,763" taped to their outfits, the number of American troops killed in Iraq so far, as of this morning.

Next to them are former soldiers with tattoos and black T-shirts that read "Iraq Veterans Against the War."

On the other side is a man named David Swanson, looking tamer in his tie and suit pants. But he's just as opposed to the war. He runs a Web site called betrayus.com, a play on the general's name.

For those opposed to the war, today is the moment of truth. And so far this morning, they have the strongest showing in the hallways. They're all vying for the 20 public seats.

The hearing hasn't even begun yet, and it already feels chaotic.

The women are members of Code Pink: Women for Peace, and my colleagues who cover Capitol Hill regularly tell me that they're always here. In fact, some of the woman apparently were scoping out the hearing room earlier this morning, until security kicked them out.

As the morning wears on, the women start distributing pink signs that read, "What a Crock." They have a strategy but they aren't revealing it except to promise it will be tame.

"We don't want to spend our first night here in jail," says Lydia Vickers, 55, of Tallahassee, Fla.

Suddenly, a police officer comes by, and the woman is convinced that they'll be forced out of the line.

"They threaten us with arrest every time we open our mouths," says Mona Hall, 69, of Plano, Texas.

Geoff Millard, 26, served in Iraq from October 2004 to October 2005. Now he runs the D.C. chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He says he's here because the general doesn't represent the soldiers anymore.

"He represents the administration," Millard says.

With that, the hearing doors open for the press.