General: Promotion is bittersweet

The man nominated to lead the war cautioned against a Senate resolution.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The general tapped to implement President Bush's new Iraq strategy recognizes he has a tough task.
After being selected to lead the war, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus said he received e-mails from colleagues with the subject heading "Congratulations. I think." In testimony Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Petraeus called the situation in Iraq "dire" and said the way ahead would be "neither quick nor easy."
In line for a fourth star, Petraeus said he sees why his promotion may seem bittersweet.
"I know how heavy a rucksack I will have to shoulder in Iraq if confirmed," he told the Senate panel Tuesday.
Petraeus testified for more than four hours Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was expected to approve his nomination later this week. Democrats peppered him with questions on the perils of Bush's plan to send an extra 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq, while some Republicans egged him on to denounce Democratic legislative proposals against the increase.
Petraeus urged Congress to think of the message any legislation might send. Asked whether a congressional resolution disapproving the Bush troop plan would hurt U.S. troop morale, he said, "A commander in such an endeavor would like the enemy to feel there is no hope."
Facing a skeptical Congress and an American public that has turned starkly against the war, Petraeus promised lawmakers that as top U.S. commander in Iraq, he would speak up if he determines the new approach is failing.
Though Petraeus was warmly received by members of the panel, the war he will help lead -- and Bush's plan to prevail in it -- faced a rougher reception.
White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., launched a sharp attack on the administration's Iraq record and called Bush's new strategy "a dead end."
"I wonder whether the clock has already run out," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a sponsor of a GOP-led resolution saying the Senate disagrees with the buildup. She said she was worried that U.S. troops in Iraq are already perceived "not as liberators, but as occupiers."
Warning about resolution
One of Congress' few vocal supporters of the war, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned that upcoming votes criticizing the president's strategy would be harmful.
"No matter how well-intentioned, a resolution being opposed to this new strategy is a vote of no confidence in you," he told Petraeus. "No matter how well-intentioned, the enemy will see it as a weakened resolve."
Petraeus made his appearance as the Bush administration struggled to limit Republican defections when a Senate committee votes today on a measure declaring the president's new Iraq policy is not in the national interest.
All 11 Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee panel are expected to support the proposal, and so far, Nebraska's Sen. Chuck Hagel is alone among 10 Republicans in favor of it.
The measure is expected to advance to the Senate floor next week, and several Republicans opposed to Bush's policy said they prefer a more mildly worded alternative. Advanced by GOP Sen. John Warner of Virginia and others, it expresses disagreement with the president's plans without criticizing them as contrary to the national interest, and also leaves open the possibility of adding troops to Anbar Province in western Iraq.
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