bobbo says:

Well, seriously, I am surprised everytime these “Heros” present themselves to the American Public with their pants down and asses fully exposed.

The non-answer circular logic should have been recorded as contempt of Congress which I have for them too!

“What is success?” “When will you leave?” THAT IS CONGRESSES JOB which they defaulted to Bush who clearly is going to stay forever, who assigned that hard and fast position to Gen Betrayus.

Whole system doesn’t work from top to bottom and after we have bankrupted ourselves, we still won’t get any cheap gas.

Actually, I laugh when I think about our geo-political hegemonic strategery.

Dallas says:

Transcripts:

“Umm, I don’t recall”
“That’s confidential”
“Ask the president why we’re in this mess”
“Yes, we need more money”
“I have no idea”

Angus says:

Wow, with the vitriol on these posts, you’d think his last name is Bush. Frankly, anyone Bush assigned would be getting this same hate. The anti war gang won’t be happy till we’re completely out of Iraq. Then they can start calling for pull outs of Afganistan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, and Italy…

Ah_Yea says:

I saw much of this on CNN, and what really caught my attention was when CNN showed video before the hearing. Hillary was joking, laughing, and all buddy-buddy with Petraeus. A true politician. You just can’t tell which face is the real one. Then again maybe she was sharing war stories about how she dodged those bullets in Bosnia.

Obama was a bit more reasonable when he tried to nail down a metric for withdrawal. I thought his “If we can withdraw troops without the situation getting worse” line of reasoning was pretty good.

I also agree with #6, Angus. No matter who showed in front of that congressional committee, the Dem’s would of skewered him for their own political purposes, right or wrong. I don’t know if ANYONE on that committee has the experience or knowledge to understand what is going on in Iraq from the General’s point of view.

edwinrogers says:

I watched it all and was particularly facinated by the facial expressions of the good General’s adjutant staff.

gregallen says:

How the heck did America get in a position where our president is hiding behind a general?

That’s messed up.

amodedoma says:

Sheesh, it’s a long way to november!

RBG says:

“Did anyone hear more than predictable scripted rationales?”

I thought I heard Petraeus admit Iraq was a big unwinnable mistake and everyone should vote for Obama, but I might have been mistaken.

RBG

Brian says:

6-

Yes, that would be a wonderful start to get all of our troops off of all foreign soil. There’s no rational reason to have US troops permanently stationed in Japan, Germany, all over the world. Tell me exactly how you’d feel if a foreign government had a permanent troops presence in your backyard? I’d suspect you’d hate it as much as these foreign countries we occupy do.

There’s no reason to have military bases overseas except to keep funding the war machine. The billions upon billions of dollars being poured into these overseas bases would make MASSIVE improvements here at home.

olad says:

@#6

“…Afganistan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, and Italy…” and why is the US in all these places? AFAIK, there are no hostilities against the US in all these places.