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Petraeus on Iraq: No Exit

Question haunts congressional hearings
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 12, 2007 7:05 AM CDT
Petraeus on Iraq: No Exit
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, right, accompanied by Gen. David Petraeus, testifies on the future course of the war in Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)   (Associated Press)

When David Petraeus led the 101st Airborne into Iraq in 2003, he made a rhetorical request: "Tell me how this ends." That question hung in the air during 2 days of testimony before Congress. McClatchy's Newspapers' Warren Strobel summarizes press sentiment when he concludes that the general failed to answer it.

The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung says the message was only of lower expectations and small seeds of progress. The Los Angeles Times concludes the testimony  failed to win over skeptical lawmakers. But the Christian Science Monitor says Petraeus has reset the Iraqi clock—potentially giving Iraqis time for reconciliation. (More Iraq stories.)

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