Would Liberals Meet with Petraus would they even listen?

Answer 1

I think the liberals will meet with Petraus but they will tell him they understand the situation in Iraq better then he does (they have already said so to other military officials).

Answer 2

A Democratic President would certainly listen to General Petraus and other top military officials. The question is, which Petraus to listen to--the one who now says we can do the job and are making progress with about 150,000 troops, or the one who wrote in the summer of 2006, in an official Counter-Insurgency Manual, that successful counter-insurgency efforts would need about 15-20 troops per 1,000 of population. For Iraq, this would mean a force level of 450,000 to 600,000.

BTW: Regular police strength in the US is about 4-5 police per 1000.