Petraeus grilled over Bush's Iraq strategy

By Andrew Gray and Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker insisted progress was being made under Bush's strategy of temporarily building up troops to allow time for Iraqi lawmakers to achieve political reconciliation.

But the bipartisan criticism directed at both men during congressional hearings raised questions about whether Bush could count on Republican colleagues for help in staving off Democrats' demands for a faster pullout.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican critic of the unpopular war, struck at the heart of Bush's justification for increased force levels, asking why troops should stay when their presence had failed to lead Iraqi politicians to make needed compromises.

"Are we going to continue to invest American blood and treasure at the same rate we're doing now? For what? The president said, 'Let's buy time.' Buy time? For what?" Hagel said.

Influential Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, who last month urged Bush to send a message to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by withdrawing some U.S. troops by Christmas, sounded deeply skeptical of current strategy.

"I hope in the recesses of your heart that you know that strategy will continue the casualties, the stress on our forces, the stress on military families, the stress on all Americans," he told Petraeus.

Warner asked if the general's recommendations would make the United States safer -- a reference to Bush's argument that Iraq is a central front in the war on terrorism.