Tuesday April 8, 2008

U.S. commander says Iraq security gains "fragile"

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. commander in Iraq told Congress on Tuesday that security gains in Iraq were "fragile and reversible" in a long-awaited progress report about the results of a year-old U.S. troop build-up.

Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus (L) and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker (behind) arrive at the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee for a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 8, 2008. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Despite an improvement in security in parts of Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "Nonetheless, the situation in certain areas is still unsatisfactory and innumerable challenges remain."

"Moreover, as events in the past two weeks have reminded us, and as I have repeatedly cautioned, the progress made since last spring is fragile and reversible," he said.

All three contenders for the U.S. presidency were among the senators expected to question Petraeus, who said a process of withdrawing U.S combat troops from Iraq would be suspended after July for 45 days to allow commanders to evaluate the security situation.

"I recommended to my chain of command that we continue the drawdown of the surge combat forces and that, upon the withdrawal of the last surge brigade combat team in July, we undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation" Petraeus said in his written testimony to a Senate panel.

The United States is withdrawing about 20,000 troops after a U.S. "surge" of force last year.

Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker immediately faced a blistering denunciation of U.S. policy in Iraq from the committee chairman, Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, in a hearing room packed with news media and onlookers.

Petraeus' plan to interrupt the U.S. troop withdrawals, said Levin, would simply be "the next page in a war plan with no exit strategy."

That decision, made as rising violence threatens to unwind gains made last year, could leave more than 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq though to the end of President George W. Bush's term.

Levin said even the small political steps taken by the Iraqi government were in jeopardy because of the "incompetence and the excessively sectarian leadership" of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination for president, said he saw a genuine prospect of success in Iraq and warned that defeat could require U.S. troops to return in a broader war.

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

In testimony over two days, Petraeus and Crocker will assess the uneven progress made in a year-long "surge" of force meant to create the calm for Iraqi politicians to advance legislation and factions to reconcile.

An increase in violence -- including the deaths of 11 American service personnel in the past 48 hours -- has thrust Iraq back to the forefront of campaigns for the November presidential election.

The United States now has 160,000 troops in Iraq. Under plans announced last year, the Pentagon is pulling five combat brigades -- or about 20,000 troops -- out by mid-July, bringing the force level down to what it was before the surge.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan, Andy Gray and Andy Sullivan)

News Poll

Latest Jobs from Star-Jobs

Latest from StarProperty