The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, hit back Wednesday at anti-war critics who accused him of being a White House stooge during an emotive two days of testimony at Congress.
As Petraeus and Baghdad ambassador Ryan Crocker prepared to deliver their appraisal of Iraq to US lawmakers on Monday, left-wing group MoveOn.org took out a full-page newspaper advertisement to denounce "General Betray Us."
At a news conference following the gruelling sessions in Congress, Petraeus said an old friend had sent him a copy of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" - which speaks of treating those "two impostors," triumph and defeat, just the same.
"I took some strength, I think, from that," the four-star general said. "Needless to say, to state the obvious, I disagree with the message of those who are exercising the First Amendment right (to free speech) that generations of soldiers have sought to preserve for Americans.
"Some of it was just flat, completely wrong. The rest was at least more than arguable," Petraeus said of the ad, which coincided with some Democratic lawmakers' claims that the general was not an independent voice on Iraq.
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