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#5. Petraeus Under Fire

Shortly after naming Gen. David Petraeus the top commander in Iraq, President Bush announced plans to send in an additional 20,000 troops to quell the sectarian fighting. House and Senate Democrats denounced the "surge," and, as they predicted, things got worse at first: May was the deadliest month for U.S. troops since November 2004. Petraeus faced hostile questioning when he returned to Washington in September to brief Congress on his slow progress. But recently the relative calm and the drop in American casualties has kicked Iraq from the front pages, at least temporarily, while the first significant pullback of troops — a brigade of 5,000 — began just after Thanksgiving. That's got pundits wondering how much of a role the war will play in next year's presidential election.

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