Posted on 04/12/2008 9:02:56 AM PDT by george76
WITH Gen. David Petraeus returning to Capitol Hill tomorrow, I asked a senior Coalition officer in Baghdad late last week what key trends he sees in Iraq. I suspect my friend's views resemble those of the general, so I'll let him speak for himself:
"Overall, civilian deaths remain substantially below those at the height of the sectarian violence. Security incidents were [down to] levels not seen since early 2005. Thanks to help from local civilians [in] former al-Qaeda-in-Iraq safe havens, we've found more arms caches so far this year than were found in all of 2006."
My old comrade went on to lay out the beating that al Qaeda's getting up in Mosul - the last major city where the terrorists have much influence. "There has been a significant chipping away at the leadership and operators of al Qaeda . . . at their safe havens and caches. In the past week, special-operations forces detained one of the top al Qaeda leaders in the city, along with a number of his subordinates and fighters.
"The Coalition and Iraqi forces are also putting considerable pressure on the networks that support the foreign-fighter flow . . . Helping in all this are tens of thousands of so-called 'Sons of Iraq,' who secure their local areas to keep al Qaeda out. The progress against al Qaeda is a key reason for the significant reduction in civilian deaths."
T.E. Lawrence's admonition that it's better for our local allies to do something imperfectly themselves than for us to do it perfectly for them.
Well, the Iraqis stepped up to the plate. A few units folded. Others fought ferociously. They did what we said we wanted - and the critics raised the bar again.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
When Petraeus gets to the Hill, he’ll answer every question honestly.
A disciplined soldier, he’ll refrain from responding: Senator, that is a phony question - and why haven’t I seen your well-padded butt in Baghdad?
He’ll speak soberly - detailing the indisputable gains on the ground, while acknowledging that many difficulties remain. He’ll warn that the progress to date could still be reversed.
Thanks G.
Thanks!
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