Anti-war Democrats Wednesday accused the White House of plotting to saddle the next president with a "quagmire" in Iraq, as the top US war general faced a second day of intense scrutiny in Congress.
On the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, General David Petraeus and US ambassador Ryan Crocker faced two House of Representatives committees, as political turmoil swirled following their Senate appearance on Tuesday.
President George W. Bush's spokeswoman meanwhile left little doubt that he would back the general's call for freezing US troop withdrawals for last least 45 days after July, which sparked outrage from Democrats. "When violence is up, the president says we cannot bring our troops home. When violence dips, the president says we cannot bring our troops home," said Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid.
"With 160,000 courageous American troops serving in Iraq, President Bush has an exit strategy for just one man - himself on January 20, 2009." Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said top administration officials must accept the judgement of history over the war and would soon leave and "hand over the quagmire of Iraq to the next president."
The hearings were the latest political flashpoint over Bush's troop surge strategy and a war stretching into its sixth year, which has now killed more than 4,000 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
During 10 hours of testimony Tuesday, Petraeus and Crocker faced the three senators, Republican John McCain, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, running to become president, and inherit the daunting challenge of Iraq.
McCain, a strong war supporter Wednesday rejected Obama's suggestion that the United States should talk to its sworn foe Iran over stabilising Iraq, as part of a regional "diplomatic" surge. "I do not think that it would be helpful in any way to enhance the prestige of people like that," McCain told Fox News.
Obama, leading Clinton in Democratic nominating contests wins and elected delegates ahead of their next showdown in Pennsylvania on April 22, also said Tuesday the administration's goal of a stable, Democratic Iraq was unreachable.
"If ... our criteria is a messy, sloppy status quo but there's not, you know, huge outbreaks of violence, there's still corruption, but the country is struggling along, but it's not a threat to its neighbours and it's not an al Qaeda base, that seems to me an achievable goal within a measurable timeframe," Obama said.
Petraeus, testifying before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees Wednesday, recommended that once the last of the 30,000 extra troops pumped into Iraq last year are withdrawn in July "we undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation."
White House press secretary Dana Perino signalled Wednesday Bush would back the plan. "You've heard the president say for years that he's the type of commander in chief who listens to his commanders on the ground and to the experts who can provide the best advice to him," Perino said. In view of "the president's practice of listening to his commanders on the ground, it would not be to type if he did not listen to them," she told reporters. Bush is expected to outline his decisions in a public statement on Thursday.
Petraeus warned Tuesday that while security has improved, "we haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel. "The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and is reversible."
The US military is currently withdrawing five combat brigades sent into Iraq early last year. But the general's testimony left unanswered how long a pause would be required and whether US forces would remain at about 140,000 troops, the pre-surge level.
Amid violent clashes between the Baghdad government and rival Shiite factions, Petraeus accused Iran of backing militia groups such as that led by Sadr. "The flare-up highlighted the destructive role Iran has played in funding, training, arming and directing the so-called special groups, and generated a renewed concern about Iran in many Iraqi leaders," he said. But in an interview late Tuesday, Crocker said the United States was ready for a fourth round of talk with Iran on the issue of Iraqi security.
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