The commanding general in Iraq will testify in public about a crucial mid-September report on the war's progress, the White House said Thursday, according to dpa. Questions about whether the Bush administration is trying to shield US General David Petraeus arose after the Washington Post reported the White House had proposed having him testify to Congress behind closed doors. A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, did not dispute the newspaper report. But he said the session with Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, would be public, as required in the law that mandated the report. They will testify publicly "about the conditions on the ground in Iraq, what they see, what they think are some recommendations about the way forward," Johndroe told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush was vacationing at his ranch. The White House plans to have Petraeus and Crocker testify before the report's official September 15 release, but they will likely "offer a very candid assessment" already then, Johndroe said. The September 15 deadline for the report has loomed large in the sparring between the Democratic-led Congress and the Republican White House over the future course of the war. Bush's popularity in the US has slumped because of the war and many in Congress, including some Republicans, want to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq. But Bush, who ordered some 20,000 extra troops to Iraq this year has repeatedly asked for patience until Crocker and Petraeus deliver their update, which will be pivotal in determining whether the strategy has made progress.
