Joe Pitts, September 13, 2007

On Monday, I attended the Congressional hearing featuring General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. General Petraeus delivered a report on the military progress of President Bush’s surge strategy, and Ambassador Crocker reported on the political progress of Iraqi leaders in reaching political reconciliation.

I believe General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker gave frank and independent assessments of the conditions in Iraq. In the past, many of the war’s detractors called for listening to commanders on the ground. Now that the General is reporting on some good news, these detractors are attempting to discredit General Petraeus personally, and the veracity of his report, in an effort to undermine his message.

The assessment by General Petraeus, accompanied by statistical evidence, showed that militarily, the surge is helping to increase security in Iraq.

General Petraeus reported that "the level of security incidents has decreased significantly since the start of the surge of offensive operations in mid-June, declining in 8 of the past 12 weeks, with the level of incidents in the past two weeks the lowest since June 2006 and with the number of attacks this past week the lowest since April 2006."

He also noted that "Civilian deaths of all categories, less natural causes, have also declined considerably, by over 45% Iraq-wide since the height of the sectarian violence in December."

Additionally, General Petraeus noted U.S. troops have "found a substantially increased number of arms, ammunition, and explosives caches...we have, so far this year, already found and cleared over 4,400 caches, nearly 1,700 more than we discovered in all of last year. This may be a factor in the reduction in the number of overall improvised explosive device attacks in recent months, which...has declined sharply, by about one-third, since June."

As history of war has shown, statistical evidence alone cannot prove we are ‘winning,’ but I believe it is important for our military leaders to provide more than just "gut feeling," as General Petraeus put it, when citing the progress of military strategies.

I was encouraged to see General Petraeus back up his assessments of the situation on the ground with numbers and figures that provide hard evidence. In this regard, I was pleased to hear the General say "Two US intelligence agencies recently reviewed our methodology, and they concluded that the data we produce is the most accurate and authoritative in Iraq."

There are some grim realities concerning both the security and political situation. General Petraeus himself acknowledged some of the progress in security is the result of an increase in segregation of the population -- many neighborhoods in Baghdad for example simply no longer have Sunni residents; they have been victims of the bloodshed or moved away to escape the violence. However, what I heard from General Petraeus leads me to believe the military strategy currently under way has seen improved security results and deserves a chance to continue making gains.

As we continue to review the conflict in Iraq and develop policies and strategies for going forward, we must always keep in mind the consequences of failure. Ambassador Crocker, during his report reminded Members of Congress of the "massive human suffering, well beyond what is seen now" that would likely occur with a precipitous U.S. withdrawal.

The long-term ramifications of failure in Iraq are monumental and would most likely include regional conflicts, rising Iranian influence, the emboldening of terrorist groups, and even genocide. This war will not stop simply because we leave. On the contrary, we would be responsible for the disastrous events that would follow an abrupt U.S. withdrawal. It is likely the conflict would spread to other countries in the region.

I am frustrated with the lack of political reconciliation on the national level, just as Ambassador Crocker said during his report. This is a vital element in bringing peace and stability to Iraq. The Iraqis themselves must choose peace. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of years of history of sectarian and ethnic conflict and decades of brutal repression by a vicious dictatorship that create a very complicated reconciliation process.

We have a responsibility to our fallen soldiers to ensure their lives were not lost in vain. We have a responsibility to our allies in the region to ensure the area does not slide into chaos. And we have a responsibility to the people of Iraq, a responsibility we took on when we made the decision to topple Saddam Hussein from power. These realities cannot be glossed over, and should not be abandoned, especially now that we have a commander on the ground with a plan that is showing progress.

Congressman Joe Pitts, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District, which includes Lancaster County and parts of Chester County and Berks County.