No Victory in Iraq, Petraeus says

[symbiosis 0]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7610405.stm

No victory in Iraq says Petraeus

Gen David Petraeus says the US faces a long struggle in Iraq

The outgoing commander of US troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has said that he will never declare victory there.

In a BBC interview, Gen Petraeus said that recent security gains were "not irreversible" and that the US still faced a "long struggle".

When asked if US troops could withdraw from Iraqi cities by the middle of next year, he said that would be "doable".

In his next job leading the US Central Command, Gen Petraeus will also oversee operations in Afghanistan.

This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not war with a simple slogan

Gen David Petraeus

He said "the trends in Afghanistan have not gone in the right direction... and that had to be addressed".

Afghanistan remained a "hugely important endeavour", he said.

Earlier this week, President George W Bush announced a cut of 8,000 US troops in Iraq by February - with some 4,500 being sent to Afghanistan.

'Hard but hopeful'

Gen Petraeus took up his role in Iraq in February 2007, as President Bush announced his "surge" plan.

He has overseen its implementation, including the deployment of nearly 30,000 additional troops to trouble spots in Iraq.

In an interview with the BBC's Newsnight programme, Gen Petraeus said that when he took charge in Iraq "the violence was horrific and the fabric of society was being torn apart".

Gen Petraeus said the Iraqis were standing up as US forces stood down

Leaving his post, he said there were "many storm clouds on the horizon which could develop into real problems".

Overall he summed up the situation as "still hard but hopeful", saying that progress in Iraq was "a bit more durable" but that the situation there remained fragile.

He said he did not know that he would ever use the word "victory": "This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not war with a simple slogan."

He said al-Qaeda's efforts to portray its jihad in Iraq as going well were "disingenuous". It was, in fact "going poorly", he said.

Of his strategy of establishing joint security stations in key locations, Gen Petraeus said that "you can't secure the people if you don't live with them".

He said it was now fair to say that the Iraqis were standing up as US forces stood down. The confidence and capability of Iraqi forces had increased substantially, he said.

Gen Petraeus did not confirm reports in the media that the US was preparing to withdraw all troops from Baghdad by next summer, but he did say that consideration was being given to removing US forces from a number of cities, including the capital.

Watch the interview in full on the BBC's Newsnight programme, BBC2 at 2230 BST

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Similar to what he said in his report last year - promising security gains but without a long-term political solution on the Iraqi side the whole thing is on the edge of a knife.

[alienlovechild 75]

I like the Obama plan better.

Ignore whatever happens in Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan. Iraq's oil, strategic position between the Gulf and Iran, U.S. money, lives and prestige aren't worth it. Afghanistan has . . .uh . . .opium . . . Osama . . .maybe he's in Pakistan but it's still a "stan".

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Or perhaps next time - don't start wars that you can't win, get you mired down for years at the cost of billions, and act to the advantage of your so-called enemies.

[Fedup 0]

Hey, at least we got Osama's driver !

Maybe another 5 years and few hundred billion dollars and we will get his barber !

Yeee-haaaa. Bring them on, those evil drivers and bodyguards.

[IAMX 3,055]

For once Petraeus speaks in a non-political pandering sense.

This is the result of years of trying to convince the public and Congress to go into Iraq (with at least one "NO" by Congress), but with no real plan, just pushing us in there to bomb the ####### out of a place, allow good friends, KBR, Lockheed Martin, et al, to get their no-bid contracts, oil pipelines secured, make their money, and well, who gives a ####### what happens next. It's obvious Bush had no plans to win Iraq, just plans to get us INTO Iraq (his autobiographer/ghost writer, downing street memos, forged yellowcake documents, previous statements from the executive cabinet which were contradictory from years earlier to now about Saddam's capabilities along with the evidence which was non-existent). Thousands of soldiers and much more innocent Iraqi civilians died for a President and friend's political gains.

Edited September 11, 2008 by SRVT