General David Petraeus Is Upbeat For Iraq

Gen. David H. Petraeus, center, near Baghdad in July. Whether to fight on is a "big, big decision, a national decision," he says.

General David Petraeus Sees Huge Progress In Iraq
-- The Australian

THERE has been "enormous progress" in improving security across Iraq and there are real indications that the country is finally turning away from the endemic violence of recent years.

As he prepares to leave Baghdad within days, General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, cites a host of statistics that indicate the war-torn country is at last "spiralling upwards" towards a more normal existence.

In an exclusive hour-long farewell interview with The Australian in his office in the ornate presidential palace in Baghdad, General Petraeus sees signs of a return to more normal conditions in the capital and increasingly, across a country that only 20 months ago was still riven by horrific sectarian conflict.

General Petraeus is leaving Iraq in two weeks to become the US's CENTCOM commander, a post that will see him charged with responsibility for the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Last Sunday, there were no serious security incidents across the whole of Baghdad.

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My Comment: I still think it is too early to make a victory lap or to state that "normal" conditions are returning. The war has been won .... yes .... the enemy has been defeated .... yes .... but (here is my butt monkey) sectarian divisions remain. There is little if any trust between the communities. Religious extremists are still operating. Al Qaeda cells are still planning.