[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5320-5321]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            IRAQ WAR UPDATE

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today General Petraeus comes to the 
Senate. I suggest that we listen to the General. When he reported to 
the Senate last September, some Senators were unwilling to listen. One 
even said that she thought that in order to believe the reports from 
Iraq it required a willing suspension of disbelief.
  Let us remember what has happened since then. I can remember last 
August

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visiting with General Petraeus in Baghdad. I handed him a paper that 
said: It is time for a new strategy in Iraq. I had been urging 
President Bush and the Senate to adopt the Iraq Study Group 
recommendations. In my view, what General Petraeus has done since that 
time has been to adopt the Iraq Study Group recommendations with some 
amendments.
  We are acknowledging that it is time to shift the mission from combat 
to support, province by province. We are acknowledging that there will 
be a long-term presence of the United States in Iraq, but as General 
Petraeus said, it is steadily diminishing. We are acknowledging that 
this is an important step-up in diplomatic and political efforts.
  As General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker speak today, the questions 
we should ask are: What progress are we making down this new path to 
bring this war to a successful conclusion? Second, now that there is 
widespread agreement that there has been success since last summer with 
an American-led military surge, what are the prospects for an Iraqi-led 
political and diplomatic surge, letting the Iraqis invite their 
neighbors to embassies in Baghdad, reconciling their differences among 
themselves, and paying for more of their own bills?
  So instead of suspending our disbelief, let's listen to the General 
and to Ambassador Crocker, acknowledge the progress they are making and 
make it easier for them to progress on the diplomatic and political 
fronts.
  I thank the managers of the bill for their courtesy.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, what is the pending business?

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