This week, Congress will again hear testimony from U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus and the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker. Their testimony as to the "success of the surge" is sure to be made more difficult due to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's decision to enter into Baghdad's Sadr City and confront the Mahdi Army and other militia who remain aligned with popular and powerful cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. Let's be clear. This is a Shia vs. Shia battle that came after months of relative calm, according to Los Angeles Times reporters Tina Susman and Ned Parker who write;

"The military campaign in the southern port of Basra, which the government says targeted all armed groups, unraveled a seven-month freeze on armed operations observed by the Mahdi Army that had been considered pivotal to Iraq's recent reduction in violence."

CBS reporter Lara Logan stated what General Petraeus may not:

"It's really about two things," Logan said. "It's a fight amongst the Shiites for power in Iraq - what the future of this country is going to look like, how the Shiites will divide Iraq among themselves - but perhaps even more importantly it's a fight between the U.S. (who backs the Iraqi government and Iraqi security forces) and Iran (who backs those militias). Logan continues,

"This is really the proxy war that everybody talks about behind closed doors but nobody wants to admit to in public."

Will General Petraeus push for a military assault on Iran, in accordance with the U.S. quest for dominance in this oil-rich region? I pray not, yet Vice President Cheney has been threatening Iran for months about obtaining nuclear weapons, despite the most recent National Intelligence Estimate declaring Iran ended it's quest in 2003.

Never mind that Israel has 300 or so nukes, and the U.S. has over 5000 active stockpile nuclear warheads.

On a side note, some brave and patriotic Pinellas County residents are suffering - and still waiting for compensation due them for exposure to toxic and carcinogenic materials when they made nuclear triggers at Department of Energy plant in Largo. Today it's called the Young-Rainey STAR Center. That's "Young", as in Congressman Young, the 38 -year Republican incumbent against whom I am running.

So, let me get to the reason why I began this blog. Here are a few questions I'd like to ask General Petraeus.

1.) President Bush declared that war operations had ceased in May of 2003. General Petraeus, would you characterize your current operations as a "war" or an "occupation?

2.) In July of 2006, The Lancet, a British Medical Journal, estimated that over 600,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion. According to Opinion Business Research, those estimates have risen to over 1 million dead. General Petraeus, how do you ascribe the term "victory" in these circumstances? Additionally, how do these deaths make America safer?

3.) Mental Illness for returning veterans is on the rise. In November 2007, CBS news reported that over 6,000 veterans committed suicide in 2005. General Petraeus, how would you describe the mental heath effects on Veterans from repeated troop deployments and frequent stop loss orders?

4.) The military operation into Sadr City was called by Prime Minister Maliki, who is Shia. It is being waged against cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, also a Shia. General Petraeus, why should our soldiers be in the middle of a civil war and Shia power struggle?

5.) Nobel laureate and former chief World Bank economist, Joseph Stiglitz, along with Linda Bilmes of Harvard University now say operations in Iraq will top $3 trillion dollars. General Petraeus, can we afford to stay in Iraq?

6.) We have been paying Sunni insurgents $800,000 a day with U.S. tax dollars not to attack U.S. forces. General Petraeus, how does this fit into the paradigm of "winning hearts and minds?

7.) General Petraeus, can you give me your assessment of General Fallon's departure and how this may determine future action concerning Iran?

I have many other questions for the General. But this is a start. I've also joined a coalition with forty seven other 2008 Congressional candidates who are calling for an end to the Iraqi occupation and have signed onto a document entitled "A Responsible Plan to End the War.

You can also endorse this plan.

Help me to help you stop this loss of blood and treasure and end this occupation. Will you contribute your time, your energy and your dollars?

This is the call for our generation. We cannot be silent.

Samm Simpson.