From the AP:
The four-star general in charge of Iraq wants more time in a war that is now in its sixth year. Democrats say he's got until the November elections.
Gen. David Petraeus planned to testify Tuesday on the war for the first time in seven months. He was expected to tell two Senate committees that last year's influx of 30,000 troops in Iraq had helped calm some of the sectarian violence but that to prevent a backslide in security, troops would likely be needed in large numbers through the end of the year.
Under his proposal, as many as 140,000 troops could be in Iraq when voters head to the polls this fall.
Democrats contend that this approach guarantees an open-ended commitment to a $10-billion-a-month war as the economy at home is faltering. They say the lack of political progress made in Iraq, as well as the recent spike in violence in Basra, indicates the troop buildup has failed.
And there is this, from the Guardian, in the U.K.:
A confidential draft agreement covering the future of US forces in Iraq, passed to the Guardian, shows that provision is being made for an open-ended military presence in the country.
The draft strategic framework agreement between the US and Iraqi governments, dated March 7 and marked "secret" and "sensitive", is intended to replace the existing UN mandate and authorises the US to "conduct military operations in Iraq and to detain individuals when necessary for imperative reasons of security" without time limit.
The authorisation is described as "temporary" and the agreement says the US "does not desire permanent bases or a permanent military presence in Iraq". But the absence of a time limit or restrictions on the US and other coalition forces - including the British - in the country means it is likely to be strongly opposed in Iraq and the US.
Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are testifying today on Capitol Hill. By today's close, they will have faced the next U.S. president, as Senators McCain, Clinton, and Obama will all be involved in the testimony.
Yap, yap; you're talkin' too much.
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