Rep. Robert Wexler, Florida Democrat, asked Army Gen. David H. Petraeus a question conveyed to him by a man who recently lost his son, a soldier in Iraq who had been stationed in Baghdad's Green Zone.

"For what?" Wexler said he was asked to inquire of Petraeus. "For what had he lost his son?"

Petraeus replied that one of the major purposes was to stop the spread of sectarian conflict, which has plagued Iraq and threatens to spill into other countries.

"What we are fighting for are national interests," Petraeus said. "It has to do with regional stability of a region that is of critical importance to the global economy."

— Carrie Sheffield, Web editor, The Washington Times