Petraeus Gives GOP Political Cover

By Craig Crawford | September 11, 2007 11:05 AM | | Comments (0)

By carefully selecting facts to accentuate the positive as well as calling for troop reductions, Gen. David H. Petraeus gave President George W. Bush what he needed — political cover for Republicans in Congress to continue their successful blockade against Democrats trying to end the Iraq War.

Testifying in the House yesterday and in the Senate today, the top U.S. general in Iraq is winning the moment for the White House. Recommending a troop reduction that conveniently equals the 30,000 additional forces for the so-called surge should help nervous GOP lawmakers calm down their constituents.

But even with this pullback, the most likely scenario for the 2008 elections is that just about the same number of troops will be in Iraq as were in theater for last year’s midterm elections — which means that Democrats have plenty of explaining to do to anti-war constituents who thought they helped the party take control of Congress in order to make a difference in Iraq.

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