Word: crocker
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...whose testimony may be the most important may not be Petraeus, the anticipated star of the show, but the other guy, Crocker, a much admired diplomat who has spent his entire career in the region. If Petraeus has seen some victories, Crocker has known nothing but defeat in his dealings with the failed government of Nouri al-Maliki-dealings that mostly involve trying to get the Shi'ites to treat the Sunnis fairly and stop fighting among themselves. As a result, Crocker may have a better handle on the most important questions facing the U.S. effort in Iraq...
...province had been "lost" to the jihadis. Now AQI seems to have been kicked out of Anbar, pushed back from Baghdad, forced to carry out its most lethal attacks on the northern periphery of the country. It was feared that the weeks before Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker made their September reports to Congress would be dominated by the insurgency's State of Iraq report: spectacular bombings, perhaps even a Tet-style offensive. But-fingers crossed as I write this-Baghdad seems merely murderous these days, without the efflorescence of gore that would have undercut the Bush Administration...
...tale of how the Sunni tribes rejected the forced marriages, beheadings, smoking bans and strict fundamentalism imposed by the terrorists seems ready-made for Hollywood-and it will be front and center as Bush, Petraeus and Crocker try to sell more war to Congress and the public over the next few weeks. But it is not the only story in Iraq, perhaps not even the most important story. It is more about Iraq's recent past than about its future. It is almost irrelevant to the continuing political meltdown in Baghdad, the utter inability of Iraqis to figure...
...After speaking with with Petraeus and Crocker, Bush struck an optimistic note, saying that they had told him troop levels could come down in Iraq if stabilization continued at the current pace. But speaking to an ebullient crowd of service men and women Bush said, "When we begin to draw down troops in Iraq it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure...
...Bush also met Monday the two men who will make a key recommendation to Congress this month on the future of the mission in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Bush said the two men told him that "If the security situation continues to improve the way it has we may be able to achieve the same objectives with fewer troops." Earlier, he told Marines, "When we begin to draw down troops in Iraq it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure...