WASHINGTON &#8212 A congressional hearing that lawmakers called the most important of the year opened like a rock concert Monday, with crackling anticipation and screeching feedback from the acoustic speakers. Yet this show turned out to be David Petraeus, unplugged.

Calm, measured, unflinching, the Iraq war commander walked lawmakers through the latest turns in the unpopular war, stopping well short of promising victory but asking the nation to give escalation a chance.

Even Democrats who despise the war policy were deferential in the face of the general’s even-keeled demeanor and his shiny silver stars, four to a shoulder. “He’s one of the best,” said Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, who ran proceedings in the ornate hearing room and ordered a succession of protesters ejected when they shouted their anger at the war.

In his Army green, under sparkling chandeliers, Petraeus presented statistics on conditions in Iraq that leaped off the page like fever charts on a hospital bed, indicating the patient was terribly ill but might be coming around. He declared “it is possible to achieve our objectives in Iraq over time.”

A protester who called Iraqis “beautiful people” and accused Petraeus of lying was quickly removed during his remarks. Other discordant voices were similarly silenced before he began. Before the general spoke, the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was among those arrested for shouting in the room.

Democrats were careful to exempt the general from their contempt of President Bush’s course.

“This is not a knock on you,” California Democrat Rep. Tom Lantos told Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, ambassador to Iraq.

“With all respect to you,” he went on, “I don’t buy it.”

As soon as Petraeus finished, three more protesters shouted from the back and were ejected. One of them, a woman wearing a cardboard crown saying “Pull Out,” screamed “No, no, no!” as security guards took her arms and tugged her out of the room.

An exasperated Skelton said protesters who disrupted proceedings would be prosecuted.

“There will be no disturbances,” he vowed, after half a dozen had already taken place.