Obama Petraeus

Guide Note: April 8, 2008: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama questioned General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the current situation in Iraq, asking for clarification on how "success" in the region could be defined or measured. Obama asked the two whether U.S. presence in Iraq would still be considered successful if the "status quo" was maintained without a high level of American troop involvement.

The questions came as part of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Hearing on Iraq. John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton also returned to Capitol Hill to hold discussions with Petraeus and Crocker. Obama Quote:

1. "The problem I have is if the definition of success is so high—no traces of Al Qaeda and no possibility of reconstitution, a highly-effective Iraqi government, a democratic, multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian, functioning democracy, no Iranian influence, at least not of the kind that we don't like—then that portends the possibility of us staying for 20 or 30 years."

Petraeus Quote:

1. "As I mentioned, we are drawing down very substantially in Anbar province, a place that I think few people would have thought would be the situation ... say, 18 months ago. And, again, that's what we want to try to achieve in all of the different areas in which Al Qaeda has a presence."