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Wallace with Patraeus:

1. Asks about the soldier ID cards being found; got some leads, but not “hot” leads....continue to pursue our troops, and will not give up.

2. Surge: Full complement of troops there now; up to now just “shaping operations”, now we have full troop count enables us to launch ops into sanctuaries that have AQ, and the surge is ahead of where we thought we would be in some cases, behind in others. Anbar is a key example of successful operations.

3. Pentagon quarterly report indicated no measurable success to date; level of violence unchanged during surge. How come this is so dissapointing? One metric that US tracks is sectarian violence, which has gone down — then up — but is trending back down again. As we go on offensive, the enemy responds — as anticipated. Overall mixed perspective, serious work ahead still.

4. Reid comment questioning his credibility. SHows quote of Reid, the america hater, and how Reid knows more than the General. Patreaus says he is forthright — he bases his assessments on personal observation. The fact is there are signs of normalcy, kids are playing soccer, markets open, etc. He tells both sides of the story, and why shouldn’t he report the good with the bad? How does it feel when DC says you are out of touch; Patraeus very political and does not take the bait. We are occupied with our work in Bagdad, don’t need to play the stupid DC games.

5. Shows clip of President Bush and then another pentagon report trying to imply that the President is a liar. Patraeus comes right back: extreme Suni’s ARE AQ, so keep it in the right bin and stop playing the games of sectarian violence. Very appropriate to emphasis of AQ in Iraq and provoking the Iraqi’s into sectarian violence.

6. Some sectarian violence for sure, and we are trying to break that cycle of violence so the political solutions can move foreward. Bottom up political process is beginning to work and that is promising.

7. A good interview overall, the General portrayed the situation on all fronts — the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think Wallace did a pretty good job of questioning and gave the General lots of time to explain the WHOLE situation. September progress coming up after the break.

General P has been there since the beginning. As a Division CG...his division...the 101st Infantry (Airborne) were responible for the timely demise of Uday and Qusay.

He’s been the Corps Commander over there and now he’s running the entire show.

So tell me who’s more “in touch” a General who’s been in country off and on since 2003 or a corrupt Socialist Senator who prefers to rely on the false reports of the Green Zone snipers of the DBM for his “intel”?