Bush’s War in Iraq

CAPNEWS EXLUSIVE: Sen. Harry Reid on Iraq, Petraeus & Bush

Video Play List:

• IRAQ HEARINGS: Gen. Petraeus’ Opening Statement
• IRAQ: Petraeus Presentation to Senate Foreign Relations Cmte
• IRAQ: Amb. Crocker Presentation to Foreign Relations Cmte
• JOE LIEBERMAN: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• CARL LEVIN: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• OBAMA ON IRAQ: What is Success with Al Qaeda in Iraq & Iran?
• HILLARY CLINTON: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• McCAIN: Iraq Hearing Opening Statement
• IRAQ: McCain Questions Petraeus on Basra, Baghdad Offensive
• JOE BIDEN: Asks Petraeus to Rate Iraq on 1-10 Scale
• TED KENNEDY: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• Rep. Skelton: Petraeus and Crocker at House Armed Services
• Skelton Questions Petraeus, Crocker at House Armed Services
• EVAN BAYH: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• JOHN KERRY: Questions Gen. Petraeus
• Delahunt Questions Petraeus, Crocker - House Foreign Affairs
• Wexler Questions Petraeus, Crocker at House Foreign Affairs
• JOHN WARNER: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Cro
• DICK LUGAR: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• Reyes Questions Petraeus, Crocker at House Armed Services
• FEINGOLD: Questions Gen. Petraeus
• BARBARA BOXER: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• JIM WEBB: Iraq Questions for Petraeus, Crocker
• CHUCK HAGEL: Questions Gen. Petraeus
• SEN. CORNYC: Questions Gen. Petraeus
• SEN. McCASKILL: Questions Gen. Petraeus
• SEN. VOINVOVICK: Questions Gen. Petraeus
• WICKER: Questions Gen. Petraeus

News Wire & Blogs:

1. Bush: Surge led to ’significant progress’  from UPI - Top News U.S. President George W. Bush Saturday said U.S. and Iraqi forces have made “significant progress” in Iraq since the 2007 troop surge.

2. Bush Says Iraqis Assuming More Responsibility from FOXNews.com by foxnewsonline@foxnews.com President Bush says in his weekly radio address that Iraqis are shouldering more responsibility, but that Gen. David Petraeus still needs time to “make his assessment.”

3. Ariz. Mountain Renamed After Slain Soldier from CBS News.com A federal panel has officially renamed a Phoenix mountain for the first American Indian woman to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military, ending one of the country’s most contentious fights over a place name.
4. Dems: Force Iraqis to use oil cash from MSNBC.com: Politics Democrats plan to push legislation this spring that would force the Iraqi government to spend its own surplus in oil revenues to rebuild the country, sparing U.S. dollars.
5. When the Data Don’t Really Measure Up from Wash Post - Politics by Post As part of his presentation to Congress yesterday, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus displayed 11 multicolored charts to demonstrate progress in Iraq. A close look at the facts indicates that the data often lacked context or were misleading. Here is a guide:
6. Frustrated Senators See No Exit Signs from Wash Post - Politics by Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks Asked repeatedly yesterday what “conditions” he is looking for to begin substantial U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after this summer’s scheduled drawdown, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said he will know them when he sees them. For frustrated lawmakers, it was not enough.
7. A ‘Conditions-Based’ Answer from Wash Post - Politics by Post Several senators asked Gen. David H. Petraeus when and under what conditions he would recommend further reductions of U.S. forces from Iraq, after an assessment this summer. The general’s responses, as an exchange with Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) shows, were less than specific.
8. A Burr in the Side of the American People from PoliticalBase.com Blog Sen. Claire McCaskill in this morning’s senate hearing emphasized the cost of the war for Americans, versus the cost for Iraqis. “It is a major burr in the side American people,” she said, “that the Iraqi government has a budget surplus and we have a massive deficit, and yet we are paying, and they are not… We’re spending about $200 million a year [to pay the Sons of Iraq] twice the average salary you’d make in Iraq, and I’m trying to figure out how you get Iraq to pay that…”
9. Hazy Iraq Benchmarks: Political Success Requires Implementation from Center for American Progress by Brian Katulis, Peter Juul Petraeus claims “surge” is fostering Iraqi reconciliation, yet by his own benchmarks this is fiction, write Brian Katulis and Peter Juul.
10. Bad Ending to a Long Day from PoliticalBase.com Blog The Senate Foreign Relations hearing ended on a somber note, with senators expressing doubt and mistrust over the Status of Forces Agreement that Ambassador Crocker is currently working on. “I’m now concerned this administration might negotiate a long term security agreement” that would constrain the Congress or next president, Senator Ben Cardin said. “If you want the cooperation of many of us, that agreement better come before us.” Senator Jim Webb expressed similar concerns.
11. Crocker Says Iran Needs to Initiate Diplomacy with U.S. over Iraq from PoliticalBase.com Blog Senator Chuck Hagel questioned Ambassador Crocker at this afternoon’s hearing about the claim he’s made that a “diplomatic surge” accompanied the military surge. “I don’t see Condoleezza Rice doing any Kissinger-like flying around,” he said. “Where is the diplomatic surge that in the end is going to make a difference in the outcome of Iraq, and certainly, how we come out of this?”
12. Petraeus: Iraq Too Fragile for Further U.S. Troop Pullouts from FOXNews.com by foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Army Gen. David Petraeus painted a picture of a nation struggling to suppress violence among its own people and to move toward the political reconciliation that Bush said a year ago was the ultimate aim of his new Iraq strategy.
13. Feith Regrets Not Pushing ‘Law and Order’ in Iraq from NPR Topics: Politics The U.S. government has been criticized for many aspects of its handling of the Iraq war. But Douglas Feith, an architect of the war, says one of his biggest regrets is not convincing top Pentagon officials to pay more attention to law and order immediately after the fall of Baghdad in 2003.
14. Basra Was the Test from Center for American Progress by Ian Moss The “surge” strategy now under review on Capitol Hill failed to meet its most important goals recently in Basra, writes Ian Moss.
15. General Resists Timetable for Withdrawal of Troops in Iraq from NYT > Washington
    Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, warned a Senate panel against removing “too many troops too quickly.”
16. Neither Brief Nor A Pause from PoliticalBase.com Blog General David Petraeus recommended this morning to the Senate Armed Forces Committee that once troops in Iraq have been drawn down to “pre-surge” levels, there should be a “45 day period of consolidation and evaluation to determine when we can make recommendations for further reductions.”
17. Veterans’ Mental Health by the Numbers from Center for American Progress
    CAP takes a by the numbers look at the mental health toll on our veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan and why improvements are needed.
18. Iraqi Widows, Orphans Left Stranded from ABC News: Intl Iraq’s Growing Legions of Widows Suffer Loneliness, Ostracism and Poverty
19. Iraq Report Details Political Hurdles and Future Options from Wash Post - World News by Robin Wright A new assessment of U.S. policy in Iraq by the same experts who advised the original Iraq Study Group concludes that political progress is “so slow, halting and superficial” and political fragmentation “so pronounced” that the United States is no closer to being able to leave Iraq than it was a y…
20. Bush Listens Closely To His Man in Iraq from Wash Post - World News by Michael Abramowitz - For months, a debate raged at the top levels of the Bush administration over how quickly to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. But the discussion shut down soon after President Bush flew to Camp Arifjan, a dusty Army base near the Iraqi border in Kuwait, in January for a face-to-face meeting…
21. Sen. Biden: Troop buildup a failure from MSNBC.com: Politics A leading Democrat on Saturday declared last year’s troop buildup in Iraq a failure.
22. New Plan Will Shorten Army Combat Tours from CBS News.com The Bush administration plans to announce next week that U.S. soldiers’ combat tours will be reduced from 15 months to 12 months in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning later this summer, The Associated Press has learned.
23. Evidence of Executions by Iraqi Forces Surfaces from NPR Topics: World Recent fighting between Shiite militia and Iraqi troops highlighted severe, lingering problems for the U.S.-trained forces, including tactical and logistical issues and desertion. Even more grave, evidence points to executions of detained militiamen by some of the security forces.
24. Dem Leaders To Bush: Not Too Late On Iraq from CBSNews - Politics Democratic leaders told President Bush on Friday that it’s not too late to change course in Iraq and pleaded with him not to hand the war off to the next president.
25. Think Again: Getting Iraq Right from Center for American Progress by Eric Alterman, George Zornick Iraq demands a change in direction, but it’s hard for people to demand a change on policies that go unreported, writes Eric Alterman.
26. Iraq: Out of Our Hands and Into a Two-Star General’s? from PoliticalBase.com Blog “Out of Iraq we will come, and the jury’s out on what’s going to happen next,” Retired General Barry McCaffrey said at this morning’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the American military prospects in Iraq. The political will in the U.S. to continue the war is gone, the military is at its breaking point, and al Qaeda will not overrun Iraq if we leave, the panelists made clear.
27. What Could $432 Million Buy American Families? from Center for American Progress
    On average, we spend $432 million a day in Iraq, while families at home feel the crunch of rising prices, declining employment, and soaring credit.
28. G.I. Missing Since 2004 Confirmed Dead from CBS News.com The father of a soldier listed as missing-captured in Iraq since 2004 said Sunday that the military had informed him that his son’s remains were found in Iraq.
29. Staff Alleges Abuses by Top Iraq Auditor from Wash Post - Politics by Robin Wright
    Federal investigators called at least nine current and former employees of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction before a grand jury in Richmond on March 18, and the FBI has summoned others for questioning this week, marking a new phase in the probe of allegations ag…
30. Political Memo: Iraqi Offensive Revives Debate for Campaigns from NYT > Washington
    The war’s return to the public consciousness poses new challenges and opportunities for the candidates, particularly Senator John McCain.
31. U.S. Has Little Influence, Few Options in Iraq’s Volatile South from Wash Post - World News by Karen DeYoung As U.S. warplanes attacked targets in Basra yesterday, Bush administration officials acknowledged that their hands-off strategy toward southern Iraq in recent years has left them with little knowledge of the conflicts among competing Shiite groups there and few ways of influencing them.
32. Despite the Fighting in Basra, Bush Emphasizes Progress from Wash Post - Politics by Peter Baker DAYTON, Ohio, March 27 — The images from Baghdad and Basra bristled with explosions, burning buildings, angry street protests, rocket smoke wafting from the Green Zone. The words from Dayton were “remarkable” and “victory” and “rebirth.”
33. 42 Democrats Vow a Drawdown in Iraq If They Win Seats from Wash Post - Politics by Paul Kane More than three dozen Democratic congressional candidates banded together yesterday to promise that, if elected, they will push for legislation calling for an immediate drawdown of troops in Iraq that would leave only a security force in place to guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
34. The Iraq Headline We Fear from PoliticalBase.com Blog Not the headline we want to see…From today’s New York Times, “Assault by Iraq on Shiite Forces Stalls in Basra:”
35. In Speech, Bush Praises Iraq’s Government from NYT > Washington President Bush said the fighting in Iraq demonstrated the willingness of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to impose order.
36. Iraq Explodes from PoliticalBase.com Blog An afternoon update on the out-of-control events happening right now in Iraq. Looks like the Maliki government is “all-in” with the decision to try to take down the militias
37. Bush: Iraq Needs Security, Not “Hectoring” from CBSNews - Politics President Bush defended the slow pace of progress in Iraq, asserting “it is not foot-dragging” as Iraqi politicians try to reach agreement on political, security and economic goals.
38. Bush consults advisers on Iraq from MSNBC.com: Politics Wrapping up a series of consultations on Iraq, President Bush met at the Pentagon on Wednesday with the military’s top leaders to hear their views on prospects for further troop reductions.
39. Vet Voice: What We’ve Learned This Week [In Iraq] from PoliticalBase.com Blog Brandon Friedman over at Vet Voice has what I think is best summary of the five things we should now have all learned about our five-year Iraq adventure.
40. Resurging Iraqi Violence: Shi’a Civil War Only One of Many from Center for American Progress by Brian Katulis Latest outbreak of fighting among Shi’a rivals is emblematic of multiple conflicts still raging across the country, writes Brian Katulis.
41. Idea of the Day: Phased Military Redeployment from Iraq in One Year from Center for American Progress The United States should immediately begin redeploying its troops from Iraq and declare it does not intend to maintain military bases permanently in Iraq. A swift strategic redeployment from Iraq, coordinated with Iraq’s government, gives the United States the best chance to revitalize its ground forces now stretched too thin to address growing threats on other fronts in the fight against global terrorist groups in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
42. How Could We Spend $600 Billion?: What the Education System Could Do With the Money Spent on Iraq from Center for American Progress The $600 billion given to operations in Iraq could buy thousands of schools, fund hundreds of thousands of salaries, and send millions to college.
43. Just to Recap: Ridiculous War, Monumental Mistake from Center for American Progress by Spencer P. Boyer Five years ago, the United States invaded Iraq and set in motion a chain of events that most Americans wish had never been unleashed. While President Bush and Vice President Cheney have been making the rounds to convince a skeptical public that the war has been critical for America’s national security interests, their words ring hollow. With 4,000 Americans killed, 30,000 wounded, and over half a trillion dollars spent so far, this unfortunate anniversary is the proper time to step back for a reality check.
44. Bush Given Iraq War Plan With a Steady Troop Level from NYT > Washington
    Troop levels in Iraq would remain nearly the same through 2008 as at any time during five years of war, senior officials said.
45. What Are Our Interests in Iraq? from PoliticalBase.com Blog The United States has a chance to actually meet its ultimate goal in Iraq– establishing a peaceful, democratic ally in the Middle East– if it maintains high troop levels for at least another year, Fred Kagan argued today at the famously conservative American Enterprise Institute. Kagan was joined this afternoon by Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack, both of the Brookings Institution, to discuss the findings of the newly-releaesd Phase IV Report of AEI’s Iraq Planning Group.
46. Bush Says War’s Outcome ‘Will Merit the Sacrifice’ from Wash Post - World News by Karen DeYoung and Michael Abramowitz As the death toll for American troops in Iraq reached 4,000, President Bush conferred yesterday with top U.S. officials in Washington and in Baghdad and vowed in a public statement that the outcome of the war “will merit the sacrifice.”
47. Bush Says War’s Outcome ‘Will Merit the Sacrifice’ from Wash Post - World News by Karen DeYoung and Michael Abramowitz As the death toll for American troops in Iraq reached 4,000, President Bush conferred yesterday with top U.S. officials in Washington and in Baghdad and vowed in a public statement that the outcome of the war “will merit the sacrifice.”
48. Cheney On Iraq War: Bush “Carries Biggest Burden” from PoliticalBase.com Blog With the sad milestone of 4,000 killed-in-action in Iraq, Vice President Cheney reminds us of who really carries the biggest burden of this preposterous war:
49. U.S. Death Toll In Iraq Hits 4,000 from CBS News.com A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.
50. Book Details U.S. Pressure On Allies Before War from Wash Post - World News by Colum Lynch UNITED NATIONS — In the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries who withheld their support, spied on its allies, and pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys that resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war, acc…
51. On War’s Anniversary, Bush Cites Progress from Wash Post - Politics by Dan Eggen President Bush sought yesterday to convince a skeptical public that the United States is on the cusp of winning the war in Iraq, arguing in a speech at the Pentagon that the recent buildup of U.S. forces has stabilized that country and “opened the door to a major strategic victory in the war on t…
52. “So?”, from PoliticalBase.com Blog When asked how that assessment comports with recent polls that show about two-thirds of Americans say the fight in Iraq is not worth it, Cheney replied, “So?”
53. Five Years In, How Much Do We Care?, from PoliticalBase.com Blog As Bush proclaimed today that he needn’t reduce the level of troops in Iraq, it’s hard to know whether people are listening to him and agree or simply aren’t paying attention to the war at all. Two thirds of Americans say they think the war was a bad idea. But even with five years and $600 billion come and gone– not to mention nearly 4,000 soldiers lost — people aren’t exactly taking to the streets over it. At least in Washington, D.C, they’re literally not taking to the streets. The country’s complacent attitude was clear from the paltry protests across capital today.

Cabinet Departments & Agencies:

• Vice President Dick Cheney
• Department of Defense
• Department of Justice
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of State
• Department of Treasury
• Department of Interior