Petraeus just said that he didn’t know whether his recommendations to continue the surge would make America safer. He said he hadn’t thought about that much – focused on Iraq. Does that strike anyone else as remarkable?

Not that it’s true, just that he would say it out loud. Slips like that could get him in trouble with the don.

If AQ is our biggest enemy and they’re mostly in Afghan-Pak border area and they’re getting stronger every day we’re in Iraq, then the only sane thing is to leave Iraq and go after AQ where they are most concentrated.

Of course, if they were serious about fighting AQ they’d go after the AQ types in Iraq rather than messing about with nation building.

“Where do we go from here?” Where, oh where? How about we get the F**K outta there!

It seems clear to me that the repetition of that question was mostly rhetorical and meant for the general public, rather than either Petraeus or Crocker.

Asking the public to FINALLY make the decision to leave should bring the public opinion polls closer to unanimity that it is time to at least retreat from the centers of violence and just help the political process where it’s underway. Just that would be a big step in the right direction!

Bob Casey juxtaposing Petraeus’ assertions with reality—and not putting me to sleep! (He’s my senator.) He’s not perfect, but that coulda been ole Ricky Santorum in that chair today.

I think this hearing brought out the best in many senators who otherwise are not considered great.

P.S. Collins should have been dust long ago, IMO.

Why does Susan Collins always sound like a kindergarten teacher talking to children? Is it a speech impediment or something, or what? It makes me have a hard time thinking of her as really brainy. For instance, I can’t imagine her being a prosecutor, or even a defense attorney, and winning any cases with her speech patterns. So how does she win elections?

Collins knows she is dust in Maine

Sen. Byrd is up. The old gent is older than dirt but gets right on it. Wants Petraeus to say whether there’s a connection between 9/11 and Iraq. The General says he’s not aware of any.
Damn, the old boy is sharp as a tack! He just made a comparison to arming Sunnis and the Taliban. It will be a shame when we finally lose hhim from the Senate ranks.

I had the privilige of watching Byrd on the floor four or so years ago. He slammed the patriot act down on the desk next to him in the Senate and pointed to the White House and said that he had never witnessed in his many years in the Senate a group more committed to tearing up the constitution than the Bush administration.

That guy has a mind like a steel trap and a memory like an elephant