General David Petraeus, the Bush administration’s front man in Iraq, will be testifying before congress over the next two days. It’s widely expected that he’ll be recommending a halt to any further plans for withdrawal of the additional U.S. troop escalation that occurred early in 2007. The “stay the course” mantra will be the headline this evening, and George Bush himself is expected to repeat the message when he addresses the nation on Thursday.

There’s one topic that most assuredly won’t be addressed in the hearings: Ted Westheusing.

Who is Colonel Westheusing (or more correctly, who was he)? In Iraq, his title was, Director, Counter Terrorism/Special Operations, Civilian Police Assistance Training Team, Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. In essence, his role was oversight of the civilian contract firm that was charged with training Iraqi police. He directly reported to Generals Joseph Fil and David Petraeus.

On June 5th, 2005, despondent with what he viewed as unmitigated corruption in the administration of civilian contracts in Iraq, human rights abuses, and lack of response / control by senior commanders, Westheusing put his service revolver to his ear and pulled the trigger (at least according to official investigations).

On the eve of Gen. Petraeus’ congressional testimony, writing at Brilliant at Breakfast, Melina revisits Ted Westheusing’s story in a lengthy and insightful post about the incident, and in particular, the connections to Petraeus. (It’s more than a little disconcerting that Westheusing’s “suicide note” was addressed specifically to his direct superiors, Petraeus and Gen. Joseph Fil.)

Westheusing’s death occurred more than a year before Petraeus became uber commander / CEO of the Bush administration’s Iraq quagmire. Yet, even as closely as I’ve followed the developments in Iraq over the past six years, I don’t recall ever reading a word about this incident as Petraeus was anointed the savior of the Bush legacy in late 2006 / early 2007. Why would that be?

Please take a few moments today to read Melina’s post, and follow a few of the links provided. While it may be three years too late, perhaps an intrepid (or ballsy, non-intimidated) member of the U.S. House or Senate could inquire of General Petraeus if the conditions that drove Ted Westheusing to kill himself still exist in Iraq. After all, USIS (the contractor that Westheusing was overseeing) is still training Iraqi security forces, so it’s a relevant question.