Tomorrow and Wednesday General Petraeus will be testifying before both the house and senate's armed services and foreign affairs committees.

In lieu of his testimony Mother Jones has asked a group of national security experts what they thought Congress should ask of the General.

Here is a random selection of their questions:

"How many Iraqi army divisions are capable of conducting unilateral operations?"

"What role do you see for both private military and security contractors in Iraq in the future?"

"Given that groups headed by people such as Abdul Aziz al-Hakim [leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq] are very closely tied to Iran and considered allies of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, what is the evidence that Iran is trying to destabilize a government filled by people who are sympathetic to Tehran?"

"What is your candid assessment of the chances that the Maliki-led regime can survive without Sadr's backing and having failed to convince both the U.S. and Iran that it has the capability to govern?"

"Why do you and the administration continue to plan policy as if we have any leverage in Iraq? Don't American forces have precious little to do with the "frozen" character of the conflict? Sunni peace is dependent on the sheikhs, not us; Shiite peace is in question because of the decisions of militia we have little influence over; and Baghdad has already purged its mixed neighborhoods, which has solidified the barriers between hostile neighbors. A dysfunctional government we prop up has virtually no impact on the country's security or economy outside Baghdad, and 70 percent of the people want us to leave. It seems the U.S. is completely unable to influence the fundamentals of the situation. So why should anyone assume that more or fewer U.S. troops are the key factor in Iraq's future?"

"In Rick Atkinson's account of the invasion of Iraq, In the Company of Soldiers, you are depicted as constantly asking Atkinson, "Tell me how this ends." After five years of war, do you have any better idea of how this all ends?"

We will all have to tune in tomorrow starting at 9:30am to see just how tough the questions will be. If the General's last appearance before the Congress is any indicator of what we will witness tomorrow then he need not worry.

The Nation has a link to both Senator Clinton's questioning of General Petraeus as well as Senator Obama's questioning of the General from last year. 

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