http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/09/petraeus_weve_got_ball_and_are.html#moreGen. David Petraeus has written a letter to troops serving in Iraq in anticipation of his progress report to Congress next week.
The letter is important and worth reading because his testimony in Washington will likely parallel it greatly.
He speaks of progress and acknowledges the significant challenges that remain. He uses a football coach's language to describe where his forces stand:
"We are, in short, a long way from the goal line, but we do have the ball and we are driving down the field."Petraeus tells his troops that he knows what they already know -- that they have their hands full in a dusty, superheated desert battle scape.
"We face a situation that is exceedingly complex. Al Qaeda associated insurgent groups, and militia extremists, some supported by Iraq, continue to carry out attacks on us, our Iraqi partners, and the Iraqi civilians we seek to secure. We have to contend with the relentless pace of operations, the crushing heat, and the emotions that we all experience during long deployments and tough combat. And we operate against a backdrop of limited Iraqi governmental capacity, institutions trying to rebuild, and various forms of corruption. All of this takes place in a climate of distrust and fear that stems from the sectarian violence that did so much damage to the fabric of Iraqi society in 2006 and into 2007, not to mention the decades of repression under Saddam's brutal regime. Tragically, sectarian violence continues to cause death and displacement in Baghdad and elsewhere, albeit at considerably reduced levels from 8 months ago, due, in large part, to your hard work and sacrifice together with our Iraqi counterparts." full letter:
http://blogs.trb.com/news/politics/blog/MNF-ICommandingGeneral_sLettertotheTroops7Sep07.pdf
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