Wired‘s Danger Room blog has compiled a list of seven questions that they’d like to ask General Petraeus in his Senate testimony today, all of which I think are worth asking. Particularly these:
3. Recent Senate testimony by General William Odom and journalist Nir Rosen presented a portrait of Iraq that is at odds with the more rosy picture painted by the Bush Administration. General Odom has said “the decline in violence reflects a dispersion of power to dozens of local strong men who distrust the government and occasionally fight among themselves. Thus the basic military situation is far worse because of the proliferation of armed groups under local military chiefs who follow a proliferating number of political bosses. This can hardly be called greater military stability, much less progress toward political consolidation, and to call it fragility that needs more time to become success is to ignore its implications.” How do you respond to this?
[…]
7. Finally, Charlie asks, How do we know if we’re losing? How do we know if our strategy is not working? Is it falsifiable?
Much as it would be important to hear the answers for both of these questions, I doubt any semblance of either one will be asked.
