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| The Secret Weapon in the War in Iraq: Petraeus |
| 2007-05-02 |
| If Bush can't talk to the American people about this war, maybe he can? HUME: Is the war so unpopular now that it does not matter what the arguments are for continuing? . . . CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I think it matters. . . . If you can make the case, maybe the president can't ever speak to the American people again on this, but I think Petraeus can.And when he comes back in September, if he makes the case that, A, were succeeding against al Qaeda and we have had remarkable developments in Anbar, a province which had been declared lost to al Qaeda, justhalf a year ago, completely lost. We now see the Sunnis in Anbar rebelling against al Qaeda and taking up arms against them. And thatÂ’s remarkable. If he returns and says weÂ’re making progress and if we leave al Qaeda wins Iraq, that will make the case. Petraeus feels that he is making slow, steady progress against the myriad enemies that Coalition forces confront, but he is keenly aware that results may not come fast enough to please antiwar politicians back home who are eager to pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq, and damn the consequences. "The Washington clock is ticking faster than the Baghdad clock," Petraeus often says. His goal is to speed up the Baghdad clock by pressing for more reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites, and to slow down the Washington clock by showing gains on the ground that can reverse public pressure to pull U.S. troops out prematurely. The former is hard to do because of the mutual suspicions that grip this country. The latter is equally hard, because a few high-profile insurgent atrocities can obscure the progress being made by Coalition forces in stopping ethnic cleansing in Baghdad, which Petraeus views as his most important immediate goal. More of the story at Link and a video of General Patraeus speaking on 4/26 as well. |
| Posted by:Delphi2005 |
| #3 As said before, iff Radical Islam fails to initiate new terror strikes inside the USA proper, i.e. high-profile, Dubya/GOP-blamed "new 9-11's/Amer Hiroshimas", the Dems are gonna CYA = Hedge by taking post-2008 MSM credit for Dubya's entrenchment in the ME. Radical Iran is being surrounded and isolated - EVERY DAY THAT RADICAL ISLAM FAILS TO ATTACK THE USA INSIDE THE USA IS ANOTHER DAY OF DUBYA-LED ENTRENCHMENT-CONTAINMENT OF RADIC IRAN IS ANOTHER DAY MOUD-MULLAHS BECOMING TERTIARY IFF NOT IRRELEVANT TO US DEMS = DEMOLEFT WHOM MUST NOW INCREASINGLY FOCUS ON PRESERVING THEIR OWN HIDES = LOCAL POL POWER-POSITION VV THE US GOP-RIGHT WITHIN THE US NPE. aS ALSO SAID BEFORE, unless something drastically or detrimentally changes, the day is looming/coming when not even having an anti-US andor anti-Rightist, etc. POTUS in the WH will help or save the Radical islamist agenda. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-05-02 23:58 |
| #2 It is hard to speed up the Baghdad clock when the American Congress is hanging on to the minute hand. |
| Posted by: Hank 2007-05-02 15:28 |
| #1 The latter is equally hard, because a few high-profile insurgent atrocities can obscure the progress being made by Coalition forces in stopping ethnic cleansing in Baghdad Atrocities that the MSM are glad to report. Nothing sells newprint like atrocities. Screw the guys on the ground, show us the money. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-05-02 14:52 |