Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/senators-assess-petraeus-crocker-testimony Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker provided their assessment of the Iraq war to the Senate Tuesday. Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., give their reactions. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Now to the top two senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the chairman, Joe Biden, Democrat of Delaware, and the ranking Republican, Richard Lugar of Indiana. I talked with them earlier this evening.Senators, welcome.Senator Biden, did you hear anything today from General Petraeus or Ambassador Crocker that changed your views on what's happening in Iraq?SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), Delaware: No, not at all. I had a chance last Thursday, Jim, to be in Ramadi and in Baghdad with the ambassador. And what I saw there and the conference I attended there with the Sunni tribal leaders and the Sunni vice president and others made me even more certain that the surge isn't working. JIM LEHRER: The surge isn't working, Senator Lugar?SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), Indiana: Well, the surge, as they describe it, has brought about a greater degree of safety for some people in Baghdad and other adjoining provinces. It has also opened up, however, political opportunities that have not been perceived by our forces or others, specifically the Anbar province situation emphasizes now local government, provinces taking things in its own hands.I thought that was an interesting thing to explore this morning, whether that trend is continuing throughout the country, in which, bit by bit, village by village, or province by province, some people are governing themselves fairly successfully, leaving aside whatever is occurring in Baghdad.