All three presidential candidates questioned Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker in Washington Tuesday. Both Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) questioned the troop surge strategy. Obama pushed Petraeus to name an “endpoint” to the war in Iraq and called for a “diplomatic surge that includes Iran.” Clinton told Petraeus and Crocker she believes it is “time to begin an orderly process of withdrawing our troops.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) praised the success of the surge, citing the decline in “sectarian and ethnic violence, civilian deaths, and deaths of coalition forces” since mid-2007.