Gen. David Petraeus conceded to Congress Tuesday that U.S. troop deaths have increased during the seven-month-old surge in Iraq, but he attributed the rise to more aggressive missions, not operational failures.
“We are on the offensive.” Petraeus told Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who cited a “significantly greater number” of troop deaths.
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In the first eight months of this year, 739 American troops died in Iraq, compared with 462 for the same period in 2006, according to the web site icasualties.org.
“When you go on the offensive, you have tough fighting,” said Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq.
In his second straight day of testimony on the counter-offensive’s progress, Petraeus faced a politically charged Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Its members include three senators running for the Democratic presidential nomination and one former nominee.
On the Republican side sit two of President Bush’s harshest critics on Iraq — Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Richard Lugar of Indiana.
Committee Chairman Joseph Biden of Delaware, a presidential candidate, downplayed the drop in sectarian violence since the surge of nearly 30,000 troops began in February. “We’re still talking about over 1,000 weekly attacks and we’re calling that success,” an incredulous Biden said.
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts dismissed the turnaround in Anbar Province — once the violent hub of al Qaeda operations — and lambasted Iraqi politicians. “Is it acceptable that young Americans are dying and being grievously wounded while Iraqi politicians delay and delay and delay meeting their own standards?” said Kerry, a reference to the government satisfying only three of 18 political benchmarks set by the Iraqis and the Bush Administration.
Throughout the more than four hours of testimony, the ribbon-bedecked four-star general remained calm, rather than combative. He delivered measured responses that kept to an overall theme: the surge is working, but needs to stay largely in place until mid-July 2008, when troop strength will drop to 132,000.
“In terms of concrete things like force levels, as General Petraeus said, neither of us believe we can see beyond next summer,” testified Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq, who has been careful not to criticize the hard-pressed government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
“Clearly we do not have a national level of political settlement,” Crocker said, adding that local leaders are reaching accommodations.
Petraeus said the Anbar reversal is key because it paved the wave for Sunni sheiks in other provinces to break ties with al Qaeda and join the coalition.
Crocker said Shiite-dominated Iran overplayed its hand and alienated Iraqi Shiites when its allied militias sparked violence in the holy city of Karbala. “Iran’s influence has its limits,” he said.
When asked about the British troop exodus from Basra, the key port and oil city in Shiite southern Iraq, Petraeus downplayed the ongoing power struggle among rival militias.
“Interestingly, there have been deals there recently, and the violence level has just flat plummeted,” he said, referring to the release of militia prisoners.
