This is worth noting what supposed savior David Petraeus assessed the Iraqi situation as in Iraq in September of 2004.
18 months after entering Iraq, I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up.
…
Today approximately 164,000 Iraqi police and soldiers (of which about 100,000 are trained and equipped) and an additional 74,000 facility protection forces are performing a wide variety of security missions. Equipment is being delivered. Training is on track and increasing in capacity. Infrastructure is being repaired. Command and control structures and institutions are being reestablished.
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There will be more tough times, frustration and disappointment along the way. It is likely that insurgent attacks will escalate as Iraq’s elections approach. Iraq’s security forces are, however, developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders out front and with continued coalition — and now NATO — support, this trend will continue. It will not be easy, but few worthwhile things are.
He thought we were winning in September of 2004. He’ll probably think we’re winning in September of 2007. And 2008. And 2009. And 2010…
Time to work on the myth of the good Petreus. Gen. David (”where are the weapons?”) Petreus. The guy who wrote the book on counter-insurgency and doesn’t follow it. We may not be able to impeach the president (Thanks, Nancy), but we can “impeach the witness” who will give us the gospel of the surge.
If you google “Petraeus” and “Iraq,” you’ll come up with more goodies towards the top.
He doesn’t strike me as incompetent, but it was ridiculous how quickly the press corps lapped up the notion that his “surge” was either new or different from the business as usual of 2004.
Oh, and I forgot to mention — look at his title, way back from three whole years ago: “The writer, an Army lieutenant general, commands the Multinational Security Transition Command in Iraq.”
Heckuva job, Davie.
So OW and the fanatics are now going after Gen Petraeus. The left really hates the military. Always has. But I love how when election time rolls around, they start dishing out the BS about how they just love the military - why we want to give them bunches of benefits (and just maybe they’ll vote for us).
Um, Oliver, what part of that was untrue?
I notice that anti-war folks, by virtue of being right about the war in general, seem to think that any assessment of Iraq that doesn’t say “We’re losing!” is wrong.
But the fact is, in 2004 we had trained those police, we had rebuilt infrastructure.
Plus, he predicts an increase in insurgent attacks and warns of failures and disappointments in the future.
So exactly what part of that is false? Sounds to me he was as prophetic as anyone on the anti-war side.
Look, just because most of us who supported the war were wrong about a lot of things doesn’t mean all of us were wrong about everything or that every anti-war person is right about everything. Petraus gives an accurate assessment of where we were in 2004.