Gen. David Petraeus is currently making his opening statement, which relies heavily upon charts and maps displaying decreases in civilian deaths and attacks and increases in found weapons caches. Petraeus says the the "sectarian hardening" of Iraqi neighborhoods -- in other words, the actual increase of ethnic separation and tensions -- is only "partially responsible" for the decrease in violence. Petraeus has also returned multiple times to "the destructive role Iran has played in funding and training militant groups." He ends promising to draw down troops only to pre-surge levels, and then "reassess" with no timetable. He did not mention Iraq's refugee crisis -- an estimated 4.5 million people have fled the war-torn country. --Dana Goldstein
