Petraeus: Iraq Security Improved, but 'Fragile and Reversible'

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McCain Speaks at Iraq Hearings

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered an opening statement at the start of hearings on the war in Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are testifying before the Senate.

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Petraeus also highlighted what he described as the "destructive role" played by neighboring Iran, which he said has supported Shiite groups involved in recent fighting in southern Iraq and in rocket and mortar attacks on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. The general testified that Iraqi leaders have become increasingly alarmed by these "so-called Special Groups," which he said are "funded, trained, armed and directed by Iran's Quds Force, with help from Lebanese Hezbollah." The Quds Force is a special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah is a militant Shiite organization in Lebanon that also has received support from Iran, a Shiite theocracy.

"Unchecked, the Special Groups pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq," Petraeus testified.

He later told the Foreign Relations Committee that U.S. forces have detained a number of Special Group members, including four "master trainers." The military will soon present to reporters what it has learned about the Iranian involvement, he said.

The testimony by Petraeus and Crocker came seven months after they told Congress that the United States was largely meeting its military objectives in Iraq because of the troop increases ordered by Bush. Faced with a deteriorating security situation, especially in Baghdad, Bush sent about 30,000 additional troops to Iraq last spring, raising the U.S. military presence there to about 160,000.

Citing a drop in the overall level of violence in Iraq as the reinforcements deployed, Petraeus testified in September that U.S. forces could be reduced to "pre-surge levels" by mid-July "without jeopardizing security gains we fought so hard to achieve."

Petraeus and Crocker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee then that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki needed more time to take advantage of improved security resulting from the troop surge.

After appearing this morning before the Armed Services Committee, Petraeus, 55, and Crocker, 58, delivered essentially the same opening remarks to the Foreign Relations Committee chaired by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.). The House committees get their turn to question the two men tomorrow.

As the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, McCain spoke before Petraeus and Crocker testified, repeating his warnings that withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq too soon would bring chaos to the country and possibly trigger genocidal sectarian warfare.

"We're no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success," he said.

Clinton later reminded the committee that the purpose of the surge ordered by Bush and promoted by McCain was to "create the space" for Iraqis to achieve political reconciliation. But even Petraeus has acknowledged that the Iraqi government "has not made sufficient political progress," Clinton said.

"The longer we stay in Iraq, the more we divert resources" from the war in Afghanistan and from "other international challenges as well," she said.

While supporters of Bush's Iraq war policy often speak of the cost of leaving Iraq, they "ignore the greater cost of continuing the same failed policy," Clinton said. "I think it's time to begin an orderly process of withdrawing our troops."