BIDEN Discusses Upcoming Crocker/Petraeus Hearings

Press Release

BIDEN Discusses Upcoming Crocker/Petraeus Hearings

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin (D-MI) today hosted a conference call with reporters to discuss next week's report to Congress from Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus on progress in Iraq. The schedule for next week's Senate Foreign Relations Committee is below.

"Last September, Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus testified about the status of the surge. They told us the surge would start to wind down this spring - and that they would come back to recommend to the President and to Congress what should come next" said Sen. Biden. "The purpose of the surge was to bring violence down in Iraq so that its leaders could come together politically. Violence has come down, but the Iraqis have not come together."

"We don't know what Crocker and Petraeus will say, but if it is their recommendation that we will not be in a position to further draw down U.S. forces after the surge ends, there could be no clearer acknowledgment that the surge has not succeeded in achieving its stated purpose — building self-sustaining stability in Iraq" said Sen. Biden.

On Tuesday April 8th, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear from Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus.

On Thursday, April 10th, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear from the Administration and from outside legal experts on the status and substance of the long term security assurances the Administration has started to negotiate with Baghdad.

"Iraq is not happening in a vacuum. Every extra day we stay at these levels, the price we pay gets steeper: the risk to our soldiers; the strain on their families; the drain on the treasury; the impact on readiness; and the damage to our standing in the world" said Sen. Biden.

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