“likely to muddle along for quite a long time”
In a NYT report today, General Petraeus says that the situation in Iraq “likely to muddle along for quite a long time”. John Burns’ piece on an understated General Petraeus depicts him and his views in a way that is consistent with recent Times reporting and editorializing on Iraq. It’s not that things are going great in Iraq (though there obviously have been marked improvements), but that, above all, the costs of leaving are too horrific for a serious America to contemplate. (This is Burns’ own view as well.) Excerpt:
His view, he says, is that he is “on a very important mission that derives from a policy made by folks at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue, with the advice and consent and resources provided by folks at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. And in September, that’s how I’m going to approach it.” Whether to fight on here, he says, is a “big, big decision, a national decision,” one that belongs to elected officials, not a field general…
He has become strikingly cautious, avoiding on-the-record comments on many politically contentious issues. Shunning generalizations on the war in interviews, he lays out colored charts and graphs that show falling numbers of suicide attacks, other bombings and civilian casualties, when comparing January’s figures with those in June and July. But he eludes anything that might signal what broader conclusions he will be carrying to Washington in September.
His caution extends to the most fundamental question: whether the war can still be won. “Obviously, what we’re going to try and do is win it,” he says. “What we’re trying to do right now is generate enough hope to give it a chance. But the problem is, it’s likely to muddle along for quite a long time.” A campaign plan the general and Ambassador Crocker recently sent to Washington envisages an American troop presence of some size here at least through 2009…
One issue on which the general, like Mr. Crocker, is likely to part with proponents of an early American withdrawal is on the risk of much higher levels of violence if the troops leave quickly. In an interview last month, Mr. Crocker compared the killing to a five-reel movie, saying that “as ugly as the first reel has been the other four-and-a-half are going to be way, way worse.” Speaking to the officers at Taji, General Petraeus put the matter just as bluntly. “If you didn’t like Darfur, you’re going to hate Baghdad”…
Petraeus also downplayed the recent reports of shouting matches between him and Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki, who was said to have called for Petraeus to be replaced: He wrote to Burns: “Actually, I have a very good relationship with the p.m., and I think he’d echo that assessment,” he said. “In fact, only on one occasion, several months back, have I ever been anything other than my normal easygoing self with the p.m. And that was while both of us were seated.”
It is fervently to be hoped that the Congressional response to General Petrraeus’s presentation in September will reveal that there is adult supervision among the loyal opposition.
August 14th, 2007 at 11:49 am
It is fervently to be hoped that the Congressional response to General Petrraeus’s presentation in September will reveal that there is adult supervision among the loyal opposition.
Amen to that. And it is fervently to be hoped that the Congressional response will validate that most of the opposition is, in fact, loyal.
Presumably Petraeus is well aware that the enemy may try to do a Tet just before, during, or just after his testimony.