Broadcast Coverage From Pentagon Correspondents

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
NBC; CNN; FNC
April 9, 2008
NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Now, we turn our attention to Iraq. For the second day, America’s top general in Iraq was on the firing line really on Capitol Hill, facing a lot of questions from Congress about just how much longer U.S. troops would be at war. At the same time, not far away but in a different hearing room, another four-star Army general was talking about the stress all of this is putting on the U.S. Army.
We get more tonight from our Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszweski.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS [Commander, Coalition Forces, Iraq]: (From tape.) I want to start off by generalizing –
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: For the second day in a row, Gen. Petraeus could not say when additional U.S. forces would come home from Iraq, but said even if security worsens, sending more troops is unlikely.
PETRAEUS: (From tape.) I mean, that would be a pretty remote thought in my mind.
MIKLASZEWSKI: But in today’s hearings in the House, many of the questions came not from the politicians, but the American people.
REP. WALTER JONES (R-NC): (From tape.) The American people want to know that the Iraqi government understands that we do not have treasure and blood to go on and on and on.
REP. ELLEN TAUSCHER (D-CA): (From tape.) The American people, gentlemen, love their troops and appreciate their sacrifice, but they do not like this mission.
MIKLASZEWSKI: A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reflects the mood: 53 percent of those polled believe victory is not possible in Iraq; 40 percent said victory is still possible; 52 percent want to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by the beginning of next year; 43 percent said troops should remain until the situation is stable.
Later, in a separate hearing in the same room, the Army’s number two, Gen. Richard Cody, worried the Iraq war has stretched the Army and their soldiers to the limit.
GEN. RICHARD CODY: (From tape.) We cannot take their resiliency for granted.
REP. SOLOMON ORTIZ (D-TX): (From tape.) Our equipment has been destroyed. We have to make deployments. The troops are tired.
PETRAEUS: (From tape.) I am keenly aware of the strain.
MIKLASZEWSKI: But the most poignant questions today were asked on behalf of those service members who gave their lives in the war.
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D-FL): (From tape.) For what did Stuart Wolfer and the other 4,024 sons and daughters die for?
PETRAEUS: (From tape.) Let me tell you that what we are fighting for is national interests.
MIKLASZEWSKI: Lawmakers also suggested today that it may, in fact, be the American people when they choose a new president in November who will ultimately decide the future course of the war.
Jim Miklaszweski, NBC News, the Capitol.
Lou Dobbs Tonight (CNN), 7:00 PM
LOU DOBBS: On Capitol Hill President Bush's conduct of this war in Iraq faced new criticism today. House Democrats challenging the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus to say when our troops can be withdrawn.
During his testimony General Petraeus said progress in Iraq remains fragile, as he put it. He said Iranian-backed terrorist groups are posing the largest long-term threat to Iraq.
Jamie McIntyre has our report from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Gun fire on the streets of Sadr City as Iraqi soldiers battle Shia militias, militias the U.S alleges are funded, armed, trained, and directed by Iran's Quds force. It's these Shia factions dubbed special groups by the U.S. military that General David Petraeus now sees as a bigger problem than al Qaeda.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: Unchecked, the special groups pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq.
MCINTYRE: It is Iranian expertise General Petraeus charges that has increased the lethality of recent rocket and mortar attacks into Baghdad's fortified green zone launched from nearby Sadr City. Just this week, two U.S. Army officers, Colonel Stephen Scott and Major Stuart Wolfer were killed and 17 other U.S. personnel wounded in a deadly accurate rocket attack that hit a gym inside the secure compound.
And it was Iranian-backed militias that embarrassed Iraqi troops in Basra, forcing a halt to the offensive ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. On a recent visit to Iraq, Iran's Shia President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad professed to support al-Maliki's Shia majority government, but U.S. officials say Iraqi leaders are now clearly recognizing the threat.
RYAN CROCKER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: That's not what is happening and the events in Baghdad and Basra in recent weeks have put that into very sharp contrast.
MCINTYRE: But some in Congress argue the war has boosted Iran's power and influenced not just in Iraq but in the region.
REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D-NY), FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: Maliki is propped up in parliament by the pro Iranian factions when we are talking about trying to broker things, like with the Sadr group; it seems that Iran again has the upper hand. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: So as U.S. commanders ponder future troop cuts, they're keeping a very wary eye on Iran. General David Petraeus has all but ruled out a second surge, a tacit admission there are not enough trooping for that, although he has hinted that further reductions after July saying there are four or five places he may be able to cut back with the caveat, of course, conditions permitting.
And Lou, Iran is a very big reason that those conditions do not yet permit additional troop reductions.
DOBBS: It took two days of testimony on Capitol Hill before the House and the Senate to say basically, we won't know what we're going to know until July?
MCINTYRE: Well what you're seeing is that there is a great deal of uncertainty about how things are going to go. General Petraeus doesn't want to make any promises because he knows they may not come true.
DOBBS: Did anyone in either the House or the Senate ask how a four-star general commanding troops of the world's only super power could be frustrated by insurgents in a nation of 25 million people over the course of time that now has reached beyond the duration of World War II?
MCINTYRE: Well nobody phrased it that way. But certainly there was a lot of discussion about how this insurgency has tied down U.S. troops and how the tactics have had to change to deal with that and basically comes down to the idea that they have to protect everywhere in Iraq. The insurgents can attack wherever they want. That's the nature of insurgencies.
DOBBS: Indeed it is and that hasn't been unknown to us or since the Vietnam War I believe.
All right, thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon.
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: On Capitol Hill today, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker delivered to a pair of House panels similar reports to those they gave Senate Committees on Tuesday. The Democrats made it clear that despite whatever has been accomplished they remained dissatisfied.
National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN: This time antiwar Democrats didn’t want to hear about lack of progress on political and legislative benchmarks – the reason they gave last fall why U.S. troops should withdraw. That’s because most have now been met by Iraqi lawmakers.
REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R-FL): The recent passage of the pensions law, the de-Baathification law, the provincial powers legislation, the fiscal year 2008 budget, and consideration of the consumer protection law have clearly illustrated that they are up to the task.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS [Multi-National Force-Iraq Commander]:The progress made since last spring is still fragile and reversible. Nonetheless, security in Iraq is better than it was when we reported to you last September and it is significantly better than it was 15 months ago when Iraq was on the brink of civil war.
GRIFFIN: So now Democrats, who don’t have the votes to pass legislation to order troops home, are focusing on the cost of the war and plan to pass legislation this spring that requires the Iraqi government to spend its $30 billion in oil revenues for reconstruction.
IKE SKELTON (D-MO) [House Armed Services Committee Chairman]: This nation is facing record deficits and the Iraqis have translated their oil revenues into budget surpluses rather than effective services. We and the American people must ask, why should we stay in Iraq in large numbers?
GRIFFIN: Petraeus said today the Iraqis are paying more for their security and if the U.S. draws down too quickly Americans could pay more at the pump.
PETRAEUS: I think that what happens in Iraq has ripple effects that certainly will ripple all the way right into the United States.
GRIFFIN: He added Iraqis are taking on more and more responsibility militarily.
PETRAEUS: Half of Iraq’s 18 provinces are under provincial Iraqi control. We expect Anbar and Qadisiyah Provinces to transition in the months ahead. An increasingly robust Iraqi-run training base enabled the Iraqi security forces to grow by over 133,000 soldiers and police over the past 16 months.
GRIFFIN: U.S. troops are transferring power to Iraqis.
PETRAEUS:Iraqi security force losses have recently been three times our own. We anticipate that Iraq will spend over $8 billion in security this year and $11 billion next year.
GRIFFIN: Petraeus said that the decision to take on Shia militias in Basra was more proof of progress.
PETRAEUS: They certainly could not have deployed a division’s worth of army and police units on such short notice a year ago.
GRIFFIN: The other theme hammered by Democrats here today is that with so many Army troops committed to Iraq, there aren’t enough U.S. troops to go after al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Army Vice Chief Gen. Richard Cody told lawmakers here today that this is, quote, “A ten-division Army attempting to go after a 14-division mission.”
Nonetheless, Brit, the president still plans to announce tomorrow that the Army will go back from 15-month tours to 12-month tours later this year. Brit?
HUME: Jennifer, thank you.
 
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