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The hearing will be held in Room SH-216.

From Politico | Original Article

Retired General David Petraeus, the leading architect of the so-called "surge" that helped stabilize Iraq during the most violent years of the war, is set to appear Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss U.S. policy in the Middle East, the panel announced today.

The hearing marks a return to the spotlight for the disgraced former CIA director and retired Army general, who was sentenced earlier this year to two years of probation and a $100,000 fine for sharing classified information with his mistress.

Petraeus' appearance on Capitol Hill underscores the level of angst regarding the progress of the U.S.-led camapign to defeat the Islamic State, which has its roots in the Al Qaeda branch that similarly wreaked havoc on Iraq's Shia Muslim population during the middle of the last decade.

Petraeus, who also served as top commander in Afghanistan before heading the CIA, is widely considered to be one of the most capable military strategists of his generation, who for a time was able to enlist the support of Sunni tribal leaders in Iraq to beat back Islamic militants.

Next week he is likely to be asked his views on the overall U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, where the group gained a foothold amid the country's ongoing four-year civil war, and how Iraq's Sunni population might once again play a key role in draining the militants' power base.

Petraeus will be on friendly turf.

Armed Services Chairman John McCain has long heralded the 2007 troop surge in Iraq that Petraeus oversaw as top commander there as a turning point in the war. The Arizona Republican also sent a letter last year to the Justice Department calling for its two-year investigation of Petraeus to be “brought to resolution” in a “fair and timely manner.”

“At this critical moment in our nation’s security,” McCain wrote, “Congress and the American people cannot afford to have this voice silenced or curtailed by the shadow of a long-running, unresolved investigation marked by leaks from anonymous sources.”