"I DON'T KNOW"

I noted before that PR Petraeus went badly "off script" during the Senate hearing and the LA Times has a fuller transcript:

Warner, a moderate Republican, questioned the "bottom-up" reconciliation plans in Iraqi locales being promoted by the administration. ... In an unexpected exchange, Warner asked Petraeus if the Iraq mission was making the United States safer."Sir, I don't know, actually," Petraeus said. "I have not sat down and sorted [it] out in my own mind." Warner responded, "I hope you do consider it very carefully, as I know you will."

Hardball has more of the exchange:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN WARNER ®, VIRGINIA: Are you able to say at this time, if we continue what you have laid before the Congress here as a strategy, do you feel that that is making America safer?
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, CMDR., MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: Sir, I believe that this is, indeed, the best course of action to achieve our objectives in Iraq.
WARNER: Does that make America safer?
PETRAEUS: Sir, I don‘t know, actually. I have not sat down and sorted out
in my own mind. What I have focused on and been riveted on is how to accomplish the mission of the multi-national force Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

Chris Matthews asked the obvious questions:

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: General Petraeus won‘t say if the dying in Iraq will make America safer. Then what are we fighting for? What are the people dying for?

Crooks & Liars has the video of this exchange between Matthews and Sen. Biden:

MATTHEWS: You know, Senator, you have the port in which the—Dover, Delaware, where the bodies come back. I hate talking about this. I know you do, too. But if the commander over there can‘t justify the deaths of these soldiers because it serves a national purpose and makes us safer, then what the hell are we doing there?
BIDEN: We shouldn‘t be there, Chris. We should not be there now. We‘ve got to get out of there.

The LA Times also noted that "Later, realizing his apparent gaffe, Petraeus expanded on his original answer. "I think that we have very, very clear and very serious national interests in Iraq," he said. "Achieving those interests has very serious implications for our safety."" Firedoglake has the video of this exchange on Hardball where Joe Klein let's us know what was behind PR Petraeus' change:

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, Joe, what's your estimate of the statement by General Petraeus yesterday, some people call it honesty, candor, whatever you call it, when he was asked is this war and this blood and treasure we're losing over in Iraq making us safer here at home. He said I don't know. I can't imagine Ike having said that at D-Day.
KLEIN: Well, you know what? It was the truth. It's what he really believed. Then a really funny thing happened. I was in the room. They went into recess and clearly someone from the White House called him up and said, are you kidding me! And when he came back, he was asked another question by a senator, and he went back to that statement. And he corrected himself, and said he hadn't thought it through or whatever. I think both Crocker and—