Senator Susan Collins today questioned General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss Iraq policy. Gen. Petraeus’ testimony before Congress is a result of legislation authored by Senator Collins, along with Senator John Warner (R-VA) and Ben Nelson (D-NE), that was included in the defense supplemental spending law.
In her first question, Senator Collins raised the concern that the Iraqi government has made little progress on the political reforms that virtually all the experts, including General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, agree are critical to a long-term solution to the sectarian violence plaguing the country. She asked what U.S. policy should be if the Iraqi leaders have not achieved political reforms a year from now.
Following the hearing, Senator Collins said, "We cannot have an open-ended, unconditional commitment of troops to Iraq. We cannot continue to contribute American troops and treasure without measurable progress on the part of the Iraqi government. While I am pleased that General Petraeus supports a modest draw-down of our troops, I believe that a change in mission is needed that would allow a far more significant but responsible reduction in the number of our troops deployed in Iraq. I continue to believe that the proposal that Senator Ben Nelson and I have advocated, which would transition our troops out of most combat roles and instead focus on counter-terrorism operations, border security, training and equipping Iraqi troops, and protecting Americans, is the right strategy at this time."
Senator Collins pointed out that the recent report of the Iraqi Security Forces Independent Assessment Commission, chaired by General James Jones, recommended that American security forces should be transitioned to a new mission while putting more responsibility for internal security on Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), consistent with the goals of the legislation that she authored with Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE).
At the hearing, Senator Collins also stated how critical it is for the U.S. to pursue diplomatic efforts with countries that border Iraq. "One of the Iraq Study Group’s major recommendations is a "diplomatic surge" to involve Iraqi's neighbors. But there does not appear to be a consistent effort to bring Iraq's neighbors to the table."
Ambassador Crocker acknowledged that Iraq is part of a region where uncooperative efforts by neighboring nations could worsen the situation even more. He agreed that increased diplomatic efforts must be part of the overall strategy in Iraq.