WASHINGTON, DC – April 9, 2008 – Fifth District Congresswoman Niki Tsongas will participate in a House Armed Services Committee hearing this morning in which General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will offer an update on the political and security situation in Iraq.  Noting the lack of political progress among Iraqi leaders despite the recent troop surge, Tsongas will ask General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker what steps the U.S. must take in order to encourage the Iraqi government to make fundamental movements towards political reconciliation.  Below is a transcript of Tsongas prepared remarks before the Committee.

Thank you for your testimony and your service to our nation.  And I appreciated the opportunity to meet with you both in January in the Green Zone.

General, you have served in Iraq for more than four and a half years, and you have done so with great honor.  Both you and Ambassador Crocker have been given a most difficult mission and are doing your utmost to achieve that mission which has been set out by the President of the United States.

Your most recent orders were to carry out the surge so that the US military could help to reduce the violence in Iraq and bring greater stability to the country in order to create an opening for the country's political leadership to achieve a similar stability in Iraq's governance.  Your military achievements have not translated to this stated political goal.  The urgency you felt to achieve your military goals, over which you had control, has not been shared by the Iraqi government of Mr. Maliki, over whom you had no control.

It is my belief that postponing the drawdown of our troops until "conditions permit," as you stated yesterday, only highlights and reinforces the military's incapacity to drive the political side of the equation, and hampers our country's ability to force the Iraqi governments' long overdue political resolution.  I would endorse a timetable as a means to drive political reconciliation and create the now lacking sense of urgency in the Iraqi government.

You have stated your dissatisfaction with the political progress made by the Iraqi political elites, in spite of our military's best efforts.  On this we both agree.

General Petraeus, as a military man with tremendous experience, a demonstrated track record and the extraordinary power of the United States backing you up, what are the tactics you would employ to create pressure the Iraqis to make fundamental movements towards political stability? 

Ambassador Crocker, as someone who has spent decades developing relationships with diplomats throughout the Middle East, what are the tactics you would employ to encourage the Iraqis to make fundamental movements towards political stability?