Gen. David Petraeus speaks with reporters on Aug. 18, 2007. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
by Frank James
Gen. David Petraeus has written a letter to troops serving in Iraq in anticipation of his progress report to Congress next week. (download Petraeus letter.)
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.”
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With that out of the way, Petraeus goes on to talk about what’s going right from his point of view. Attacks have declined in eight of the last 11 weeks, he says. Thousands of bad guys have been killed or captured. Al Qaeda sanctuaries, like al Anbar province, have been taken away from the terrorists. Living among Iraqis in neighborhoods, instead of on forward operating bases have allowed U.S. troops, with their Iraqi counterparts, are holding territory.
Meanwhile, as the Iraq’s central government has dithered, the U.S. military has done an end- around (a football term Petraeus would probably appreciate,) reaching out to local sheiks and tribal leaders to enlist them in the fight against al Qaeda.
This is Petraeus’s view of course. As the author of the military’s current of the counterinsurgency strategy, Petraeus is father of the surge and, as such, isn’t a completely unbiased judge.
Indeed, the Washington Post had an interesting story earlier this week that suggested that the optimism of Petraeus and his senior officers isn’t necessarily shared by some of their own troops.
BAGHDAD — Nearly every week, American generals and politicians visit Combat Outpost Gator, nestled behind a towering blast wall in the Dora market. They arrive in convoys of armored Humvees, sometimes accompanied by helicopter gunships, to see what U.S. commanders display as proof of the effectiveness of a seven-month-long security offensive, fueled by 30,000 U.S. reinforcements. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. military leader in Iraq, frequently cites the market as a sign of progress.
“This is General Petraeus’s baby,” said Staff Sgt. Josh Campbell, 24, of Winfield, Kan., as he set out on a patrol near the market on a hot evening in mid-August…
Even U.S. soldiers assigned to protect Petraeus’s showcase remain skeptical. “Personally, I think it’s a false representation,” Campbell said, referring to the portrayal of the Dora market as an emblem of the surge’s success. “But what can I say? I’m just doing my job and don’t ask questions.”
The Post writer, Sudarsan Raghavan, described the Dora market, Petraeus’s pride and joy, as a Potemkin Village since it was re-established, protected and bankrolled by the U.S. military and, even so, is nothing like the thriving Middle Eastern bazaar it was before the U.S. invasion.
Still, Petraeus knows there’s no way he can sugarcoat the Iraqi central government’s failings.
“Many of us had hoped this summer would be a time of tangible political progress at the national level as well. One of the justifications of the surge, after all, was that it would help create the space for Iraqi leaders to tackle the tough questions and agree on key pieces of ‘national reconciliation’ legislation. It has not worked out as had hoped. All participants, Iraqi and coalition alike, are dissatisfied by the halting progress on major legislative initiatives such as the oil framework law, revenue sharing, and de-ba’athification reform… While much work remains to be done before these critical issues are resolved, the seriousness with which the Iraqi leaders came together at their summit in late August has given hope that they are up to the task before them, even if it is clearly taking more time than we initially expected…”