Gen. David H. Petraeus, commanding general, Multi-National Force, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker discuss the details of their report on the military and political situation in Iraq. They testify before a joint hearing of the House Armed Services Cmte. and the House Foreign Affairs Cmte.
Ryan C. Crocker, United States Ambassador to Iraq
Gen. David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq
The hearing is being streamed via C-Span3 and MSNBC and CNN (follow link).
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Today's diary/diarist line-up:
- Liveblog
- Remembering Jello
- Ellicatt
- guyermo
- OneCrankyDom (maybe)
- joanneleon
- lurks a lot
- Oreo
- kimoconnor
- dotdot
If you would like to sign up for a diary slot for today, please leave a comment and email liveblogdkos@gmail.com. If you would like to sign up for a diary slot for tomorrow's hearings, please visit donnamarie's diary from earlier today and leave a comment. Thanks to all who are helping in these efforts.
Today's and tomorrow's hearings will be rebroadcast at 10:00 pm EDT on C-Span. Tomorrow's Senate hearings are "Status of War in Iraq": Foreign Relations (Biden) - 9:30 am EDT; Armed Services (Levin) - 2:00 pm EDT.
Last note - do the Iraqis think this surge is working? Lets take a look:
More Iraqis say security in their local area has gotten worse in the last six months than say it's gotten better, 31 percent to 24 percent, with the rest reporting no change. Far more, six in 10, say security in the country overall has worsened since the surge began, while just one in 10 sees improvement.
More directly assessing the surge itself -- a measure that necessarily includes views of the United States, which are highly negative -- 65 to 70 percent of Iraqis say it's worsened rather than improved security, political stability and the pace of redevelopment alike.
(snip)
More than six in 10 now call the U.S.-led invasion of their country wrong, up from 52 percent last winter. Fifty-seven percent call violence against U.S. forces acceptable, up six points. And despite the uncertainties of what might follow, 47 percent now favor the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq -- a 12-point rise.
(emphasis mine)
The survey took place Aug 17-24; interviewed 2,212 Iraqi citizens, and was conducted by ABC, the BBC, and NHK (Japanese broadcaster).