Last September on Capitol Hill, General David Petraeus changed the tenor of the American conversation on Iraq with his report that a US troop surge had coincided with a dramatic fall in violence in Iraq.

This week, on the path now to a US presidential election – with Iraq as a major issue – Petraeus is back on the Hill, with US Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Their first testimony, this morning, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The stakes — for the US, for Iraq — are high. Future, still unclear.

This hour, On Point: General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, in the thick of questioning.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

James Dobbins, director of the RAND Corporation’s International Security and Defense Policy Center, he was Special Envoy for Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo in the Clinton administration and the Bush administration’s first Special Envoy for Afghanistan.

Bing West, served as a Marine in Vietnam and as assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan, author of “No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah.”

Tags: General Petraeus, Iraq, Ryan Crocker