Petraeus Wants to Halt Troop Withdrawals in July

April 8, 2008 — -- The general in charge of the Iraq War told the Senate -- and the three candidates vying to be his boss -- that he would halt troop withdrawals in July and that he did not known when he could resume bringing the soldiers home.

The statement by Gen. David Petraeus is certain to become a focal point in the presidential campaign in which the handling of the Iraq War has been a divisive issue.

Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, both described an Iraq that was becoming more secure, but described that progress as fragile.

At his first appearance before the Armed Services Committee since September, Petraeus said the surge in the number of U.S. troops implemented then "has achieved progress but that progress is reversible," and he pointed to the recent upswing in violence in Basra and Baghdad.

Watch an exclusive interview with Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. ET

Petraeus said violence had significantly fallen in Iraq and noted drops in American military casualties, civilian deaths, sectarian fighting and suicide bombings. Nevertheless, he said the country still faces dangers from al Qaeda in Iraq, criminal gangs, ethnic militias and external support from Syria and Iran.

"After weighing these factors, I recommended to my chain of command that we continue the drawdown of the surge combat forces and that, upon the withdrawal of the last surge brigade combat team in July, we undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation," Petraeus said.

"At the end of that period, we will commence a process of assessment to examine the conditions on the ground and, over time, determine when we can make recommendations for future reductions," he said.

The general gave no timetable of how long the evaluation period would last or when withdrawals could resume.

There are 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now and the scheduled withdrawals would leave an estimated 140,000 in July when the pause would begin.

President Bush has said he intends to accept Petraeus' recommendation. The president is scheduled to give a speech Thursday about the war and will address the issue of troop reductions.

As Petraeus and Crocker testified, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to lift a seven-month freeze on his Mahdi Army militia if the Iraqi government did not halt attacks on his followers or set a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.

Fighting erupted again in Sadr City as Iraqi troops tried to enter the Shiite stronghold of the radical cleric, and hours later, Baghdad military command banned unauthorized vehicles and motorcycles from the capital until midnight Wednesday

Petraeus is certain to become fodder for the presidential election and the three remaining candidates -- Republican Sen. John McCain and his Democratic opponents Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- are waiting to grill Petraeus.

Sen. Carl Levin, who chaired the committee, set the tone for the Democrats as soon as Petraeus and Crocker stopped speaking.

"It seems to me what you've given to your chain of command is a plan with no end to it," Levin said to Petraeus.

McCain has bet much of his presidential bid on success in Iraq and drew sharp contrasts between the situation on the ground since the surge that he supported and the early days of the war.

"Since the middle of last year, sectarian and ethnic violence, civilian deaths and deaths of coalition forces have all fallen dramatically," McCain said.

"Reconciliation has moved forward, and over the weekend Sunni, Shia and Kurdish leaders backed the prime minister in a statement supporting his operation in Basra and urging the disbandment of all militias," he said.

McCain has come under fire on the campaign trail for saying American troops may need to remain in Iraq for 100 years. Today, he distanced himself from those comments, saying troops should remain there only as long as necessary.

"I do not want to keep our troops in Iraq a minute longer than necessary to secure our interests there. Our goal -- my goal -- is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops. And I believe we can achieve that goal, perhaps sooner than many imagine. But I also believe that to promise a withdrawal of our forces, regardless of the consequences, would constitute a failure of political and moral leadership," he said.

Democrats eagerly expressed their skepticism.

"An open-ended pause of troop reductions in July would send the wrong message to Iraqis," Levin said.

Clinton called Petraeus' plan to halt withdrawals in July "irresponsible ."

"I think it's time to begin an orderly process of withdrawing troops," she told the general.

She said the Iraq War "was not working" and has cost the United States the ability to fight wars on other fronts.

"The administration talks of the costs of leaving Iraq, but doesn't talk of the cost of staying. Our current strategy has very real costs," she said. "The longer we stay in Iraq, the longer we divert resources " from Afghanistan and other military needs.

Crocker described an Iraq where security was improving, cities were safer and the government was becoming stronger and more stable.

Crocker even praised the recent offensive in Basra in which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to crush the militias there, but called off the fighting with a truce that changed little in Basra.

But Crocker said that the decision by al-Maliki, a Shiite, to take on the Shiite militias has "shaken up Iraqi politics."

The ambassador also indicated that America's role in Iraq was diminishing.

"The era of U.S.-funded major infrastructure projects is over," Crocker said, adding that Iraq will be taking over the reconstruction of its country.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.