‘Baghdad, Can You Hear the U.S. Senate?’ : Technical Problems Interrupt Crocker’s Testimony

ABC News’ John Graham and Will Wemer report: As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee addressed the unrest and chaos in Iraq with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, unrest and chaos appeared inside the committee hearing room in the form of technical difficulties and anti-war protesters.

Crocker, who was testifying via video conference from Baghdad, was temporarily cut off from the meeting when the video connection was lost. Folks realized the connection was lost when Crocker failed to answer Committee Chairman Joe Biden’s, D-Del., question about what objective criteria the U.S. should be looking at if ‘benchmarks’ were not a good measure of success.

The committee was temporarily adjourned as technicians worked to restore the connection. The video connection was eventually restored after about fifteen minutes of delay, and about ten minutes of the session being conducted over speaker phone.

Adding to the chaos in the chamber were members of the anti-Iraq war group CODEPINK, who wore pink crowns resembling the crown worn by the Statue of Liberty, and frequently disrupted the hearing.

At one point during the recess, Biden attempted to restore connection with Crocker by saying, "Baghdad, can you hear the U.S. Senate?" That prompted a CODEPINK member to stand and declare to the committee, "U.S. Senate, can you hear the American people?"

Even Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who has been a staunch opponent of the war, asked the protesters to limit their response to her criticism.  In an unusual conclusion to the seeming chaos of Thursday’s hearing, U.S. Capitol Police evacuated the hearing room upon the conclusion of the committee meeting, because of an unattended bag in the room. The bag was determined not to be a threat.