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Petraeus Report
By sage of monticello | September 10, 2007
Dominating the news cycle today are items relating to Gen. David Petraeus’ report to Congress. Not meaning to marginalize the importance of any of his content, but I want to give a summary of what was said and what happened at the hearings today.
First, Gen. Petraeus reported that Iran is fighting a proxy war against the United States. A withdrawal would substantially increase the likelihood that Iran would fill the power vacuum left by the departure of American troops leading to a severe regional political destabilization and increase in geopolitical violence and sectarian violence.
It is increasingly apparent to both coalition and Iraqi leaders that Iran, through the use of the Quds force, seeks to turn the Iraqi special groups into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq
Second, Gen Petraeus reported evidence that progress in being made in Iraq in large part due to the change in the Bush Administration’s strategy reflected by the troop surge.
… [Petraeus] said last winter’s buildup in U.S. troops had met its military objectives “in large measure.”
Using 13 pages of colorful charts, he said, “The level of security incidents has declined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the level of incidents in the past two weeks the lowest since June of 2006.”
Ticking off some of the gains, he said, “We have disrupted Shia militia extremists, capturing the head and numerous other leaders of the Iranian-supported Special Groups, along with a senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative supporting Iran’s activities in Iraq.”
[Petraeus] said U.S. and Iraqi forces had dealt “significant blows to al-Qaida-Iraq.”
…2006 was a “bad year for Iraq. The country came close to unraveling politically, economically and in security terms. 2007 has brought improvement.”
Third, Petraeus reported, despite the progress made in Iraq, that a troop drawdown would be disastrous. In this context Petraeus said:
We have learned before that there is a real danger in handling over tasks to the Iraqi security forces before their capacity and local conditions warrant
Moving past the Petraeus testimony, Democrats started the hearing by criticizing the General.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, began the hearing by telling Petraeus the Iraq war had left the United States unable to confront other challenges.
Skelton had this to say about the Iraq strategy:
The troops in Iraq are not available for other missions; to go into Afghanistan to pursue Osama bin Laden
And finally, rearing her ugly head at the meeting - making her presence known in a desperate attempt to remain relevant in the eyes of the anti-war left was Cindy Sheehan. So desperate was Sheehan that her actions lead to her arrest.
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Monday in or near the hearing room where Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are testifying on the situation in Iraq, according to the U.S. Capitol Police.
Topics: Iraq, Gen. Petraeus, Petraeus report |
