Because Sen. Elizabeth Dole was in North Carolina today with her family after the death of her brother, she was unable to be at today's Senate Armed Services hearing with Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker in Washington.

But Dole, a Salisbury Republican, did have a series of questions she had planned to ask, and she submitted them for the official hearing record, Barb Barrett reports.

Among her questions:

* How much longer can the surge be sustained before it does irreparable harm to the force?
* What would happen if we withdraw before Iraq security forces have the ability to maintain security there?
* How important a role do private security firms play in maintaining security across Iraq?
* Given Iraq’s ethnic makeup and history of sectarianism, is it possible for Iraqis to think of themselves as Iraqis and less as members of various ethnic groups?

In her prepared statement, Dole also said she wants to put the war in the context of longer-term defense spending. She said she was especially concerned that spending in Iraq not take away from the military’s current plans to expand the forces.

"If we are to actually address this problem, then we must ensure that the overall defense budget is adequate rather than merely acknowledge the problems that our troops confront when defense spending is insufficient," she said.

Dole has been lobbying for several months for her proposal to make defense spending at least 4 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is adopting a more skeptical tone of the Iraq war.

In two recent news articles, the Salisbury Republican was quoted as being more critical of the war than she has in the past.

The Washington Post noted Wednesday that Dole, "a mainstream conservative who was never publicly strayed from the administration's position in Iraq," has said she would now support some Congressional measures to force a change in policy:

"The difficulty of the current American and Iraqi situation is rooted in large part in the Bush administration's substantial failure to understand the full implications of our military invasion and the litany of mistakes made at the outset of the war," Dole said.

The New York Times also noted that Dole told General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker that a "conspicuous gap" exists between supporters and opponents of a long-term commitment in Iraq.