Joe Biden Tells Pretraeus The Surge Is Not Working

Joe Biden is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman and made the opening statements this morning during the questioning of General David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. Biden told General Petraeus, “It’s time to turn the corner, in my view, gentlemen. We should stop the surge and start bringing our troops home. We should end a political strategy in Iraq that cannot succeed and begin one that can.” The surge is a failed policy, and it is time to end it according to Biden. Biden just returned from his eighth trip to Iraq. He said he went to Iraq, “to see in person the conditions on the ground before chairing our Foreign Relations Committee hearings this week with General Petraeus.” He saw changes, but “the overall situation has not fundamentally changed.” Biden told the hearings, “If we killed or captured every jihadist in Iraq tomorrow, we would still face a major sectarian war that is pitting Iraqis’ future against our interest. The fact of the matter is that American lives remain in jeopardy and, as I said, if every single jihadi in the world was killed tomorrow, we’d still have a major, major war on our hands.” “And if we continue to surge for another six months, is there any evidence that the Sunnis, the Shias and the Kurds will stop killing each other and start governing together?” Biden asked both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. “In my judgment, I must tell you, based on my experience and my observation here, as well as in-country, the answer to both those questions is no.” Biden has already presented a comprehensive plan to help get our troops out of Iraq called the the Biden-Gelb plan. It divides Iraq into three different autonomous regions: Kurd, Sunni and Shiites, with each having control of themselves. Biden was just on Meet the Press where he presented his views on the conditions in Iraq.
Alan Cosgrove
Here is Biden on Meet the Press to discuss his views on Iraq;