http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/petreaus_soldiers_surge_has_not_worked_out_we_had_hopedPetreaus to soldiers: surge "has not worked out as we had hoped"
By Rick Perlstein on September 9, 2007 - 12:38am.
General Petraeus will be testifying to Congress Monday.
Tell your Congressman to ask him about this: General David Petraeus, the commander of United States forces in Iraq, admitted on Friday that sending 30 000 more troops into the war zone in January had failed to yield the desired results. "It has not worked out as we had hoped," the general said.
The acknowledgement by Petraeus that the situation in Iraq is "exceedingly complex" and that progress had been "uneven" came on the eve of his testimony to Congress on the state of the war. He offered the assessment in a letter to US forces serving in Iraq that was obtained by the Washington Post....
"Many of us had hoped this summer would be a time of tangible political progress at the national level," Petraeus wrote. "All participants, Iraqi and coalition alike, are dissatisfied by the halting progress on major legislative initiatives," he wrote.Though he seems to be saying something different to the press:
On the question of a troop withdrawal, the general has indicated in a number of interviews this week that he might not replace troops when they come to the end of their deployment next April.
"Based on the progress our forces are achieving, I expect to be able to recommend that some of our forces will be redeployed without replacement," he told the Boston Globe by email on Friday.... "Few of these political solutions would have been possible without the improved security provided by coalition and Iraqi forces."The poor man can't keep his stories straight. If our lawmakers don't endeavor to pin him down next week, their dereliction of duty will have been profound.
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