General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker today presented to the House Armed Services Committee, their long-awaited status report on the status of the situation in Iraq. While I wasn't able to watch their testimony live today, they are currently on a Fox News special with Brit Hume. Their professional presentation compares quite well with the desperate attempts to discredit them preemptively by some leading Democrats, activists and commentators. Kathryn Jean Lopez has links to Petraeus' testimony and slides and to highlights from Crocker's testimony. (Interestingly, the testimonies and slides are not yet up on the Committee web site.)
Much commentary has been written leading up to and following today's events. Here is a column published this morning with the thoughts of Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain.
We must also recognize that the choice we face in Iraq is not between the current Iraqi government and a perfect Iraqi government. Rather, it is a choice between a young, imperfect, struggling democracy that we have helped midwife into existence, and the fanatical, al Qaeda suicide bombers and Iranian-sponsored terrorists who are trying to destroy it. If Washington politicians succeed in forcing a premature troop withdrawal in Iraq, the result will be a more dangerous world with our enemies emboldened. As Iran's president recently crowed, "soon we will see a huge power vacuum in the region . . . [and] we are prepared to fill the gap."
The Democratic Party leaders and other critics bet on pessimism, on gloom and doom, and now are flustered that the tide is turning and their position is being left behind.
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