What combo gets Petraeus what he needs?

LETTER: General Petraeus' Letter to Soldiers (14 Apr 07) (pdf)

Clearly, Petraeus is really unhappy about the leak, and that's pretty reasonable.

The General knows he's asking a lot--and getting a lot--from his troops.

I think it's more than fair to cite the progress, especially given the costs, but we're haunted by Dave's famous question, "Tell me how this ends."

I know Petraeus has a path in mind. The question is, What combo of Bush's stubbornness and the Dems' pushback gets us--and Petraeus--the window of opportunity we need for what must come next in Iraq's evolution from unitary dictatorship to federated something-else?

Remember, most federations don't stand up with all their members on board at the start.

Comments

[hof]

Why was the news being kept quiet? So that Bush could announce it AFTER vetoing the funding bill, thereby laying the blame on the Dems. Thus Bush being very upset that Congress didn't rush the bill to him and pushing false deadlines. The funding should have been included in last year's budget, but the Congress was too busy with more important symbolic votes then and didn't want to acknowledge the costs of the occupation.

The leak means that the Bushies have to take credit for this on their own. Too bad. They worked hard to implant in the media the concept that the funding bill would cause this, making it the theme of several speeches.

Like so much in the Iraq invasion and occupation, the timing of this inevitable announcement was going to be driven by the Republican domestic political agenda, not Gap-shrinking, the facts on the ground or military advice.

[Hugh]

A very moving letter, no wonder his troops are devoted to him. My favorite is the very last part "America's new greatest generation." Just like you called them Dr. Barnett, and they are to be tested like no other.