Senior congressional aides are saying the White House wants to limit the Petraeus report to a private congressional briefing, while the White House says that has been considered but they will not shield Gen. Petraeus from public testimony to the Congress and will abide by the legislation passed in May.

The congressional aides say the White House wanted the Secretaries of State and Defense to deliver the public testimony, but since the White House acknowledged making the proposal and still says Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will make the public testimony, it seems like much ado about nothing at this point. In other words, it seems settled it will be public testimony by the General and the Ambassador in addition to a private briefing, so why go public with the argument when it was already decided?

Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration’s progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense.

White House officials did not deny making the proposal in informal talks with Congress, but they said yesterday that they will not shield the commanding general in Iraq and the senior U.S. diplomat there from public congressional testimony required by the war-funding legislation President Bush signed in May. “The administration plans to follow the requirements of the legislation,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in response to questions yesterday.

Gen. Petreaus is quoted by the AP in the same article as stating that by about a year or so from now we will have a smaller troop presence in Iraq.

Speaking to reporters traveling with him in Iraq yesterday, Petraeus said he is preparing recommendations on troop levels while getting ready to go to Washington next month. He declined to give specifics.

“We know that the surge has to come to an end,” Petraeus said, according to the Associated Press. “I think everyone understands that, by about a year or so from now, we’ve got to be a good bit smaller than we are right now. The question is how do you do that . . . so that you can retain the gains we have fought so hard to achieve and so you can keep going.”