Panel praises Petraeus during nomination hearing

Senate Armed Services Committee members lavished bipartisan praise on Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno Thursday for their leadership and continued service.

That praise apparently assured easy confirmation of Petraeus as commander of U.S. Central Command, and Odierno as commander of Multi-National Force Iraq and promotion to the full general four-star rank.

Petraeus, the current Multi-National Force commander, told the committee that "tough fights and hard work lie ahead," but the current path will lead to an Iraq "that is at peace with itself and its neighbors, is an ally in the war on terror and has a government that serves all its people."

He said that the number of violent incidents last week was the lowest in four years and that they could be even lower this week.

Petraeus said that before he takes over his new regional command in September, he will complete a reassessment of the situation in Iraq, which he expects will allow him to recommend further troop reductions beyond the five combat brigades now scheduled to leave by July.

The new reduction might not entail a full brigade, which would be about 7,000 soldiers, Petraeus said, "but there are certain elements that could be redeployed or not deployed" into Iraq. Both of the Army generals said that Iraqi security forces were doing most of the fighting against Shiite militias in Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City.

Odierno, who recently left as top ground force commander in Iraq, said it was important for the Iraqi forces to take the lead while U.S. forces support them behind the scenes. "I see that as a model for the way we will operate in the future," he said.

While noting the increased political support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after the aggressive actions in Basra and Sadr City, Petraeus said the provincial elections to produce a new government probably would not occur until November, instead of October as previously expected. But he said Iraq already was paying a larger share of the cost of security forces and reconstruction than the United States, which both the Senate committee and the House Armed Services Committee demanded in their fiscal 2009 defense authorization bills. Petraeus said his command had clear evidence that Iran was continuing to supply arms and training to anti-American forces in Iraq, despite its leaders' promises to stop.

But in both written and oral responses to questions, he declared that the best course of action was a multinational diplomatic effort to change Iran's behavior. In addressing his new regional responsibilities, Petraeus agreed that the growing presence of al Qaeda in the uncontrolled tribal areas of Pakistan presented one of the key threats and he shared senators' concerns about the failure of NATO members to meet their troop commitments in Afghanistan.