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.