(Repeats to fix glitch in headline.) April 8 (Reuters) - Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told Congress on Tuesday that uneven security gains will prompt him to stop troop withdrawals in July, in a cautious assessment of the war a year after thousands of additional U.S. troops poured into the country. Following is a sampling of quotes from several participants at Petraeus' appearance: PETRAEUS: "We haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel. The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and reversible." U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ RYAN CROCKER: "I remain convinced that a major departure from our current engagement would bring failure." SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN CARL LEVIN, MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT: "It seems to me that what you've given to your chain of command is a plan which has no end to it." SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN JOSEPH BIDEN, DELAWARE DEMOCRAT: "Fifteen months into the surge, we've gone from drowning to treading water. ... We can't keep treading water without exhausting ourselves. But that's what the president seems to be asking us to do." SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, CONNECTICUT INDEPENDENT: "It seems to me that there's a kind of 'Hear no progress in Iraq, see no progress in Iraq, and most of all, speak of no progress in Iraq.' The fact is, there has been progress in Iraq." SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN: To Petraeus: "If I could promote you to five stars, I would." To Crocker: "I don't know where to send you. You've been to every bad place there is to go, so I'd send you to a good place, Ambassador Crocker." SEN. BARBARA BOXER, CALIFORNIA DEMOCRAT "After five years of unbelievable bloodshed on all sides... you have to wonder why the best you can say is the gains are fragile and reversible." "I find your testimony very status-quo. And the status quo has been an absolute disaster." (Reporting by Andy Sullivan, Andrew Gray and Kristin Roberts, editing by Philip Barbara)
A protester is evicted from a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing with US Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, on Capitol Hill in Washington, April ...
