Defending the "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq and insisting that a stable and democratic society there was still within reach, the top two U.S. officials in the war zone ended their second contentious day of testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Tuesday that he was right from the start about the war strategy in Iraq.
Democrats and President George W. Bush's Republicans grilled the top U.S. commander in Iraq on Tuesday, questioning whether security gains were significant enough to keep U.S. troops in the war zone.
The television commercial is grim and gripping: A soldier who lost both legs in an explosion near Fallujah explains why he thinks U.S. forces need to stay in Iraq.
The two top American military and diplomatic officials in Iraq were unable to argue that the heightened troop levels had made more than fragile and transitory progress.
If some people thought traveling to Iraq and Syria was a ratings stunt for Katie Couric, it didn't work out that way. The "CBS Evening News" tied a record low with just under 5.5 million viewers last week, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday. Last week and Memorial Day week are the two least-watched CBS evening newscasts since at least 1987, and probably far earlier.
Low-key Baghdad ambassador Ryan Crocker stepped out from the shadow of the top US commander in Iraq to urge Congress not to abandon the bloodstained country, not now or years into the future.
The 2008 presidential campaign and the debate over the U.S. role in Iraq came together Tuesday as five White House hopefuls got a chance to question the Bush administration's top officials in the war effort.
It will take three to five years before Iraq's government is stable enough to operate on its own, according to the former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, who said the surge of American forces has not solved the country's broader problems.
Quotes from Tuesday's Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committee hearings on progress in Iraq featuring testimony from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.