Clinton, McCain, Obama all face Iraq war test this week
By David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers
* Posted on Sunday, April 6, 2008
WASHINGTON — When John McCain grills Army Gen. David Petraeus this week during Senate hearings on the status of the Iraq war, voters may pay more attention to McCain and two other would-be commanders in chief than they do to the top U.S. military commander in Iraq.
Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are scheduled to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. McCain is the panel's top Republican, and Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is also a member.
Later Tuesday, the two officials are to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Democratic Sen. Barack Obama will ask questions.
The political stakes at these hearings are potentially huge for all three presidential candidates.
The one-on-ones with the war's key American military and diplomatic figures are probably their last public chance to engage these officials for months, and the Qs and As should offer not only insight into the candidates' thinking on the war, but also into how they'd deal with those in charge of the conflict.
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