Transcript of Fortenberry Exchange with General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker about Iraq

Washington, DC - Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned General David Petraeus, commanding general in Iraq, and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker about that nation’s future as they testified before the committee this afternoon.  The transcript of that exchange follows. 

 

“Mr. Fortenberry is recognized for five minutes.

FORTENBERRY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus, welcome. Thank you for joining us today. And on behalf of the people of the 1st District of Nebraska, let me thank you for your service and sacrifice on behalf of our nation.

General Petraeus, under current operational and policy assumptions, and recognizing the complexity and fluidity of the situation, what will Iraq look like in six months, your best judgment?

PETRAEUS: Well, in part, as we projected with the provincial Iraqi control, there will be a number of additional provinces that will be under Iraqi control.

Again, I think we had the projections on there. Sometimes those actually come forward, as in the case of, say, Anbar province; sometimes they move back, as has been the case with, say, Ninawa province.

In those provinces, there will be more robust Iraqi governance. Iraq forces will be shouldering more of the burden. We certainly intend to keep the heat on Al Qaida-Iraq and to try to reduce further the areas in which they have influence to some degree -- I wouldn't call it safe-haven at this point, but operating space, and to continue to press that.

There clearly has to be both a military and a political solution with respect to the militia forces. Again, there is a huge political component to that, given their connection. And that will -- that is something that clearly has to be worked out and it is something, frankly, that the Iraqi political leaders are very much seized with right now.

There will have been provincial elections, and that will have enabled more representative governance in the various Iraq provinces.

PETRAEUS: We hope that that can satisfy the aspirations of those who made a bad decision in the last elections, back in January 2005, when large numbers of Sunni Arabs, for example, boycotted the vote.

Certainly hope that basic services have been improved in terms of electricity, water, sewerage, because there are projects ongoing in a variety of those different areas. They obviously depend to a considerable degree on the security situation, but again there have been improvements in those areas and that certainly the oil exporting continues as it is, if not perhaps even tuned up a bit more, although the north, I think, recently broke either its all-time record or certainly its post-liberation record.

We hope to get into a variety of different ministry activities. More of the health clinics that we have helped Iraq build will be open by that point in time. I think it's between a third and a half right now that are open, and, again, we hope to see several dozen more of those opened over time.

And, again, I'd just go on like that down the various lines of operation that are in our joint campaign plan. As you know, there's not a military campaign plan in Iraq or a separate embassy campaign plan. It's a joint campaign plan signed by the two of us. And we do link arms as we try to take this forward and try to make progress across the board.

FORTENBERRY: Thank you, General.

Briefly, switching to the ambassador.

Mr. Ambassador, I noted in your testimony you referred to a diplomatic surge. I was pleased to see that in that Congressman McCaul, my colleague, and I introduced a resolution last year calling for a diplomatic surge, to make it the stated objective of Congress to augment our security efforts by engaging international stakeholders in robust diplomacy to ensure -- help ensure their support for political, economic and humanitarian assistance toward the rapid stabilization of Iraq.

Thus far, we've -- you've talked about enhanced U.S. -- U.N. engagement in Iraq, the international compact and the neighbors conferences.

What specific outcomes do you seek to accomplish in this regard by the end of the year?

CROCKER: Well, with respect to the neighbors, the Arab neighbors, what we would very much like to see is the Arabs reengaging with Iraq. There are no Arab ambassadors currently in Baghdad, and that is not good for Iraq and it's not good for the Arab states.

FORTENBERRY: Debt relief and economic assistance as well?

CROCKER: Certainly on debt relief. Some have granted it. Others have not. That needs to move forward.

FORTENBERRY: I think these are very important considerations.

Thank you, gentlemen.”

 

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