US Chief: Iraq Needs Time To Stabilize After Fight

Joint Chiefs Chairman Ad. Michael Mullen, right, talks with Iraqi Army Gen. Riyadh Jalal Tawfig, the commander of all Iraqi security forces in Ninevah province of Iraq, Tuesday, July 8, 2008 in Mosul, Iraq. The two men were discussing security progress at a combat outpost in western Mosul where al-Qaida held sway until a recent Iraqi-led offensive.(AP Photo/Robert Burns)

From Yahoo News:

COMBAT OUTPOST RABIY, Iraq - Even in the chin-high piles of roadside rubble, the crumbled cinderblock and the eerily empty streets of this neighborhood in western Mosul, America's top military officer sees hope. But he also sees peril and an urgent need to get the economy going — jobs, services, some semblance of regular life.

"The security is there, it's much better, it's going to continue to evolve," Adm. Mike Mullen said Tuesday in an Associated Press interview after a walking tour of this recent combat zone. But if local political reform falters "or the economy doesn't get going — and here the two are linked — then I'm not sure that security makes that much difference."

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My Comment: Key phrase ..... Iraq needs time to stabilize. After decades of tyrannical rule, wars and oppression ..... Iraq will need some time. This is the understatement of the day.