In the long parade of US senators questioning General David Petraeus on Capitol Hill yesterday, there were three who were not like the others.

Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama are running for president. One of them will almost certainly sit in the Oval Office next January as commander in chief. Patraeus’s commander. That gives their questions, their views, a different weight. Because Iraq will be waiting.

This hour, On Point: we listen closely as the three who would be president pose their questions on Iraq.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

David Ignatius, columnist and associate editor at The Washington Post.

Bernard Trainor, a retired U.S. Marine lieutenant general, he led combat commands in the Korean and Vietnam wars, was the military correspondent for The New York Times from 1986 to 1990, and is the co-author of “Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.”

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

For two days this week on Capitol Hill, America’s top general and top diplomat in Iraq are briefing Congress on the state of the Iraq War. They sat down first this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker face supporters and critics on the Hill. The US troops surge has seen violence come down in Iraq, but has not yet pointed the way out for American troops. And fighting has recently spiked.

This hour, On Point: we listen in on General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker’s questioning by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

-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

Lt. Gen. William Odom (US Army-Ret.), Director of the National Security Agency from 1985 to 1988 and Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the US Army from 1981 to 1985. He is currently a professor of political science at Yale University.

Later this week, the President will address the nation with his onward vision for the U.S. military in Iraq. With a hard war in its fifth year, benchmarks unmet, and polls showing American disillusionment, it will not be an easy sell.

But the way is being paved before Congress this week in the testimony of General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. They are talking progress, hopes, and limited withdrawals — and asking for more time. Yesterday, before the House. Today, the Senate.

This hour, On Point: Petraeus and Crocker before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

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”.

Col. Douglas Macgregor (ret.), served in the Gulf War, author of “Breaking the Phalanx” and “Transformation under Fire”.

The stated goal of the U.S. troop “surge” in Iraq was to create breathing room for political reconciliation in Baghdad. That has not happened.

But reporting to Congress this week, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are pushing for patience — a pullback, next year, of the surge, but an open-ended U.S. military commitment in Iraq.

Yesterday, they testified before the House. Today, they cross Capitol Hill.

This hour, On Point: Petraeus and Crocker before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Barry Posen, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Techonology.

Stephen Biddle, senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.