The Petraeus Testimony: A View From Iraq

Washington Post foreign correspondent Josh Partlow was online Monday, Sept. 10 at 12:30 p.m. ET to take your questions as Gen. David Petraeus testifies before the House on the progress or lack thereof that the troop surge has brought to Iraq.

The transcript follows.

____________________

Josh Partlow: Hello everyone, I look forward to answering your questions. It's evening in Baghdad but we're also all eagerly waiting to hear the testimony from Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. So let's get rolling.

_______________________

Raleigh, N.C.: Is there an independent way to verify Petraeus' claims that violence is down?

Josh Partlow: This is a really good question and one we struggle with here every day. The short answer is no, there isn't a good way to verify the military's claims that violence is down, and the U.S. military refuses to publish its own statistics on violence or civilian deaths, instead choosing to describe the situation generally in percentage terms or general trends. Other Iraqi government ministries collect statistics, including those on civilian deaths, but they often are conflicting and officials within those organizations have in the past given out several different figures trying to describe the same situation. We try to talk to a wide range of agencies -- the Interior Ministry, Health Ministry, the morgue, and others -- to get a sense of how much violence actually goes on. We also get out on the ground around the country to check out how things are in different areas. But not all of the violence in Iraq gets reported, either by the military, the Iraqi government, or in the media.

_______________________

Los Angeles: When all kinds of American military and civilian officials are discussing the effectiveness of the surge, why is there no room for Iraqis' voices? What do the average Iraqi officials, military people or civilians think?

Josh Partlow: That's one of the main reasons we're here. Each day we try to get Iraqi voices, from everyday people to top political leaders. My colleague Megan Greenwell has a story today about a poll of Iraqi opinions on how the "surge" has gone. Many Iraqis say they continue to feel unsafe, targeted because of their sectarian background, and floundering without adequate water, electricity, fuel and other services.

_______________________

Heredia, Costa Rica: Why haven't trained Iraqi soldiers that were demobilized been used to form security brigades? Why has there been nothing done about the fool who disbanded the Iraqi army and left 500,000 men unemployed and with guns?

Josh Partlow: Many of the Sunni soldiers who left the Iraqi Army earlier in the war formed the backbone of the insurgency that has become so deadly through the years. One of the aspects of the American military's partnership with Sunni tribal leaders is to incorporate some of these former officers (and in some cases former insurgents) into local defense forces, some of them unofficial militias and others now members of the Iraqi police. But the Iraqi security forces in general remain heavily Shiite, and are accused often of abusing or unfairly targeting Sunnis. So this dynamic, of marginalized soldiers kept out of the government security forces, remains a major issue here.

_______________________

New York: Josh, do we expect Petraeus or Crocker to address exactly what the troops will be doing in Iraq once the "surge" troops go home in the spring? Will we be back to the "whack-a-mole" strategy that the increased troop presence was supposed to end? It seems that the big problem in Iraq has been how to protect an area once U.S. troops leave it, and I hear/read nothing that addresses that issue. No matter what the strategy, aren't we always going to be plagued by not having enough troops? Thanks.

Josh Partlow: I personally don't expect to hear much detail about what the troops will be doing months from now, or exactly how many there will be in Iraq. It has been reported that Gen. Petraeus has recommended at least one of the 20 combat brigades in Iraq will leave, perhaps by as early as December. But the fate of the bulk of the forces I expect is far from determined, and will depend on the levels of violence we see in coming months. It's true one of the main concerns about reducing troops is that the military would be stretched increasingly thin, allowing for safe havens for insurgents to thrive in various pockets around the country.

_______________________

Tubingen, Germany: I hear as to ethnic and religious situation in Iraq so many contradictory opinions that I am a little bit confused. Does the idea of partition (Shiite Republic) find great support among the Iraqi Shiites? And a second question: are the majority of Shiites in Iraq pro-Iran?

Josh Partlow: The idea of a partition in southern Iraq, or the creation of a semi-autonomous region similar to the one that currently exists in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, is a divisive issue among Shiites. Two of the main Shiite political parties have different views on this. The party loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr tends to favor a nationalistic stance opposed to partition, as one of the cleric's main power bases resides in Baghdad, which would be outside of a southern region. The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is pushing for a Shiite region. This party's militia, the Badr Organization, is the dominant force in the Iraqi security forces in the south, and they have fought bloody gun battles with Sadrist militiamen recently.

As for your second question, it's tough to say. Definitely many prominent Shiite politicians have close relations with Iran, and many have lived there in exile during Saddam Hussein's regime. And there are lots of economic and cultural ties between Iran and Iraq that are growing everyday.

_______________________

Austin, Texas: Is it normal for a general to be this front-and-center in what is as much a political debate as a military one?

Josh Partlow: It is normal for military officers to testify in Congress, but it is rare that the stakes in that testimony are this high. Many commentators are harkening back to the Vietnam War as the last time a general has been in such an important, and public, position to define how our country is doing in wartime and what we need to do in the future.

_______________________

Chicago: Josh, thanks for your courageous and groundbreaking reporting. I'm curious about the discrepancies between the reality President Bush and Gen. Petraeus seem to present about Iraq vs. what Iraqis report in your poll today. Your brilliant colleague Megan Greenwell wrote that the numbers dispute how Iraqis feel about their own lives -- why isn't this more of a topic of discussion among the politicians?

washingtonpost.com: Poll Highlights Disconnect Between U.S. Commanders, Iraqis (Post, Sept. 10)

Josh Partlow: Thanks for your compliments. Those discrepancies seem to me very important. Part of what's going on I suspect is that Iraqi citizens live with the violence, the dysfunctional government, and the decrepit services in a much more intimate way than top U.S. military officials or diplomats in the Green Zone or on their bases. Iraqis still are fleeing violent neighborhoods, and their country, by the thousands.

_______________________

Austin: The excellent piece on the surge in Sunday's Washington Post pointed out the Anbar success started happening way before the surge. I'm hearing now that Diyala Province is replicating Anbar, but Diyala was declared a success at the end of 2005 and turned back over to the Iraqis. We spent all of 2006 dealing with the results of that decision. The south is not like Anbar, and with the Brits withdrawing the various Shia Militias are fighting for power. I want to help the Iraqis because we created this mess, but I don't see how creating local militias and fiefdoms creates a stable governing country friendly to the U.S. Will Petraeus explain these hard truths during his testimony?

Josh Partlow: I imagine Anbar, and the partnerships with Sunni tribal leaders against al-Qaeda will get lots of attention in the testimony -- both because it has been a major policy shift during the surge and also because, especially in Anbar, it repeatedly has been held up as one of the few bright spots for the Americans in Iraq.

As for Diyala, the partnerships with the Sunni insurgents against al-Qaeda really began after the "surge" started, and after Diyala became one of the deadliest places for Americans in Iraq. You raise a good point -- lots of people here worry that these Sunnis being adopted by Americans could grow into armed adversaries of the Shiite-led Iraqi government. When I talked with some of these Sunnis in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad, a lot of them said their biggest enemy was the Iraqi Army, not al-Qaeda, and that they now worried more about Iranian dominance of the Iraqi government than an American occupation.

_______________________

Washington: It is so obnoxious that we have to listen to five or six Congressmen give monologues, before we hear from the general. How common has this been in history?

Josh Partlow: Yeah, I would agree that most people want to hear from Petraeus and Crocker.

_______________________

New Brunswick, N.J.: I'm extremely concerned that the U.S. has now in desperation adopted a policy of sending arms and money to warlords and thugs (euphemistically referred to as "local leaders") if they just promise to be our friend in the future. I think this idea simply will lead to local wars uncontained by either the Iraqi central government or the U.S., as "local leaders" fight for additional power, influence, and money. What are the criteria for arming and funding "local Iraqi leaders and tribal sheikhs"? What kind of oversight and accountability is taking place? Can a committee look at these expenditures for 2006? Is Petraeus answering these questions?

Josh Partlow: You have put your finger on the main concern lots of people have about these new partnerships with the "local leaders," "guardians," "volunteers," "freedom fighters" and "concerned citizens," as they're variously and euphemistically called. But the American soldiers in Iraq are confident so far that the partnerships are worth it, because they've led to decreased violence in some areas, a weakening of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and some say they're a grass-roots stab at reconciliation.

The American troops typically give all of these guys retinal scans and take their fingerprints in order to keep a database on them in case they later cause problems. When it comes to enrolling them in the Iraqi police -- as has happened in some areas -- the Interior Ministry has its own criteria, which includes not having tattoos, not having too brutal a criminal record (that is known about) and in some cases being literate. Some American soldiers worry that when it comes to enrolling these Sunnis in the police force, the Shiite-led government has been meddling with the lists of names and not allowing certain Sunnis in for sectarian reasons.

_______________________

Annandale, Va.: It seems to be that besides security one of the most important factors in our success is the Iraqi economy. Is this any progress report on oil, electricity and unemployment? Is this even part of the discussion?

Josh Partlow: With the deteriorating security situation in the past year, economic progress has fallen in terms of being a viable priority. Iraqi and American officials often say they need to make things safer before they can hope to improve the economy. Unemployment is rampant, and electricity levels -- especially in Baghdad -- amounts to a few hours a day, if that.

_______________________

U.S.: An acquaintance now serving in Iraq says that people in the U.S. have no idea how much power the militias have at the local level. Your comments?

Josh Partlow: I tend to agree that the Shiite militias are pervasive, growing, and an extremely powerful -- if not the most powerful -- force in this country. In many neighborhoods of Baghdad you see the Mahdi Army militia (led by Moqtada Sadr) controlling the housing market, fuel and food distribution. Militias here operate various mob-like criminal rings and force out or kill Sunnis. They have infiltrated the Iraqi Army and police. They can solidify their strength with open or tacit support from powerful Iraqi politicians. I was surprised by Sadr's announcement the other day that he was "freezing" his militia for up to six months, because the scope of this organization seems beyond even his capability to freeze.

_______________________

Austin, Texas: "The American troops typically give all of these guys retinal scans, take their fingerprints, in order to keep a database on them in case they later cause problems." I've heard this multiple times, but I don't understand how it helps. How does a retinal scan prevent them from taking American-supplied arms and training and using it against the Shiite dominated central government?

Josh Partlow: It doesn't help them prevent attacks but, for example, if they find a roadside bomb and they swab for fingerprints, and it matches someone in their database, then they have evidence that a person they are working with also is working against them.

_______________________

Karbala, Iraq: Our problem in here is totally the Iranian regime's proxies under the name of Badr and Sadr. Just few days ago many innocent people were killed -- including our relatives -- because of their power struggle, and whoever stands against these Iranian proxies either are arrested, abducted or killed, and Maliki's government does not help us at all. What will be done about our problem?

Josh Partlow: Living in Karbala, a holy Shiite city in southern Iraq, you are definitely in the heart of this issue, and I'm sorry to hear you have lost relatives. These tensions between rival Shiite militias are growing. The involvement of Iran in funding or training or equipping some of these militiamen widely is alleged by American military officers here. The Iraqi government is struggling to strike a balance between their beneficial relations with Iran (commerce, tourism from Shiite pilgrims, etc.) and the more meddlesome or violent ones. Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said at a diplomatic conference in Baghdad yesterday that Iraq's neighbors definitely are interfering in harmful ways in Iraq, but they need to settle those problems in a friendly and respectful way.

_______________________

Anonymous: Josh: What are your thoughts on how the testimony is going thus far? Gen. Petraeus seems to be leaving room for compromise on many points without admitting much defeat.

Josh Partlow: Many people expected Petraeus's comments would emphasize military progress while allowing many challenges remain. As we just saw when he was talking about long-term troop levels, he appears to want to leave himself some flexibility to adjust troop strength depending on what actually happens here in coming months. As for the testimony, it's good that the microphones are working.

_______________________

Anonymous: Members of the news media have expressed a great deal of interest in today's testimony, including expressions of the great import and suspense attached to it. Interestingly, the majority of respondents to yesterday's poll in your paper believe that Petraeus will overstate the case for staying and that the president will continue his policy regardless. Why the disconnect? Do reporters know something we don't know? Or is the reporting a result of journalistic conventions, and fail to reflect the actual expectations of the reporters?

Josh Partlow: I think the importance of the testimony, as we're hearing now, is to get some sign of how long, and at what level, he feels our troops will be in Iraq. Whether he overstates the case for staying, as you mention, or if the president chooses to keep going regardless of what he says, doesn't diminish the importance of the testimony. It gives an on-the-record, in-depth explanation of his position, so that our citizens, Iraqi citizens and U.S. politicians can have something tangible to respond to.

_______________________

washingtonpost.com: Continue the discussion at Tom Ricks's Live Blogging (washingtonpost.com, LIVE)

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.