Reed: Petraeus Not Waiting

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island told C-Span interviewers Friday that Army Gen. David Petraeus "seemed very eager to come forward as quickly as possible with a new direction and policy" in Iraq, despite misgivings from the White House.

President Bush and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are trying desperately to maintain support for the war among GOP lawmakers until Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, delivers a report to Congress in September. His report has been positioned as a turning point by lawmakers on both sides.

Reed, who visited Iraq last week, said he got the impression Petraeus "wasn't waiting" for September to consider alternative strategies.

"The prospect of anything changing over the next several weeks or months, certainly through September, are very bleak indeed," Reed told an interviewer on C-Span's "Newsmakers," which airs Sunday. "So we're ready, I think, for a vote on the policy. I don't think we have to wait."