Petraeus warns of Iraq backslide

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker yesterday warned lawmakers that “fragile and reversible” security gains in Iraq would be shattered by Democrats’ pullout plans and stressed the urgency of keeping Iran in check.

“Iran continues to undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government to establish a stable, secure state through … training of criminal militia elements engaged in violence against Iraqi security forces, coalition forces and Iraqi civilians,” Mr. Crocker told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gen. Petraeus, who appeared with the ambassador to give the war report mandated by the Democrat-led Congress, said the U.S. troop surge had drastically reduced violence and helped the Iraqi government take control of about half the country’s 18 provinces.

But the general said he did not know how many U.S. troops would be in Iraq at year’s end. He said he’s recommended a pause in troop withdrawals in midsummer to ensure that U.S. forces can keep pressure on al Qaeda terrorists and other destabilizing elements.

“External actors like Iran could stoke violence within Iraq, and actions by other neighbors could undermine the security situation as well,” the general said.

Democrats at the hearings pushed for a pullout strategy and said the Bush administration has been saying for five years that it was turning the corner in Iraq.

They also questioned the general and the ambassador about the slow pace of political reform by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the oil-rich country’s failure to pay for the war or reconstruction.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Mr. Bush had failed to hold the Iraqi government accountable, resulting in the high price paid by U.S. troops and taxpayers. He said a pullout was the answer.

“An announcement of an open-ended pause in troop reduction starting in July would simply send the wrong message to the Iraqi leaders,” the Michigan Democrat said. “Rather, we need to put continuous and increasing pressure on the Iraqis to settle their political differences, to pay for their own reconstruction with their oil windfalls and to take the lead in conducting military operations.”

He continued, “The way to do that is to adopt a reasonable timetable for a change of mission and redeployment of most of our troops, promptly shifting responsibility to the Iraqis for their own future, politically, militarily and economically is the best hope for a successful outcome in Iraq and represents finally an exit strategy for most of our troops.”

Gen. Petraeus, in answering similar follow-up questions, said it would defy logic to establish a timetable before knowing what conditions will be like this summer.

“If you believe as I do — and the commanders on the ground believe — that the way forward on reductions should be conditions-based, then it is just flat not responsible to try to put down a stake in the ground and say this is when it would be or that is when it would be,” Gen. Petraeus said.

Other signs of progress cited by Gen. Petraeus and Mr. Crocker include the Iraqi parliament’s passing a budget and laws to promote national reconciliation, significantly larger and more capable Iraqi security forces, the organization of provincial elections this year, and the revival of marketplace businesses throughout the country.

Despite Democrats’ criticism of the continued war effort, the political climate in Washington has shifted markedly since Gen. Petraeus and Mr. Crocker delivered a war report to Congress in September, when the fighting and the number of U.S. casualties were escalating.

At that time, critics openly accused Gen. Petraeus of lying about the war situation to protect Mr. Bush.

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