Quick Hits: Petraeus, Pentagon and Hiatt
Posted by Ilan Goldenberg
Unfortunately, don't have time to blog these things today, but too many interesting stories to not do a quick post.
- Apparently General Petraeus doesn't think things are going as well as Mike O'Hanlon and John McCain do. Iraqis are not making "sufficient progress"
- ABC posts the entire report (PDF) that the Pentagon essentially decided not to post online, regarding the lack of connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. I guess it's pretty stupid to think that you could actually keep something off the Internet in this day and age.
- Fred Hiatt and Co. have a silly silly piece about Admiral Fallon this morning. Apparently Fallon endangered our national security by stating that we weren't going to imminently bomb Iran. They argue that this reduces U.S. leverage. It's true that threatening to use the military as leverage in negotiations can be helpful. But it's much more productive when done subtly or by the simple fact that everyone knows the U.S. has the strongest military in the world. You don't get much in negotiation by blatantly and brazenly threaten war. All that does is make diplomatic negotiations impossible (Not really a good trust building exercise). The WaPo and the Administration should take a lesson from Teddy Roosevelt: "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
Also, threatening to bomb them would be much better leverage in negotiations if we were actually negotiating with them.
Posted by: Bob Narus | March 14, 2008 at 10:03 AM
A very good point Bob
Posted by: Ilan Goldenberg | March 14, 2008 at 10:12 AM
The Post's story is fantasy. Here is what MNF-I had to say about that interview:
MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ
PRESS DESK
BAGHDAD, Iraq
http://www.mnf-iraq.com
703.343.8790
Press Release 080314a
March 14, 2008
Transcript of General Petraeus Interview with the Washington Post on
Government of Iraq Progress
Today's Washington Post inaccurately characterized the discussions
General Petraeus and their reporters had yesterday. During the one-hour
interview General Petraeus never intimated or stated that Iraqi leaders
have "failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make
adequate progress toward resolving their political differences."
The Washington Post has been asked to make a correction on this
statement and we are awaiting their decision.
The following transcript is from an interview with the Washington Post's
Sudarsan Raghavan, Joshua Partlow and Cameron Barr of Gen. Petraeus'
comments on the Government of Iraq's economic and political progress.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: ...The government does have to achieve
legitimacy in the eyes of many in the Sunni Arab community, if not most.
There's no question. Actually, it has to achieve legitimacy in the eye
of all Iraqis...... and that can only come by improving the level of
services, again -- some of which are going to take some time, but some
of which they can do in a...
WP: But they have political power. Anbar wants political power.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: And they will get it. But again, that's why
they want provincial elections. That's why the provincial powers law and
the subsequent provincial election laws are so important. I mean that's
why Ambassador Crocker and I have repeatedly noted that, you know, it's
crucial that the Iraqis exploit the opportunity that we and our Iraqi
counterparts have fought so hard to provide them. And they did start
down that road. They have made a start down that road. And, you know,
the laws that were passed, some of them are steps toward the kind of
progress that is needed to begin to cement the gains that have been
achieved in the security arena.
WP: Do you think enough has been done? I mean last year, you know,
you've even said it...
GENERAL PETRAEUS: Sure.
WP: ...a lot of commanders have said it that the key goal of the
surge...
GENERAL PETRAEUS: Sure.
WP: ...is to foster political reconciliation.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: No. -- Let me take that again-don't say
that......let me just answer that one.
WP: Yeah.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: No one...no one in the government or US...or
even in the government of Iraq feels that there has been sufficient
progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation,
legislation to cement the gains, and so on. They are all keenly aware.
And the same with respect to basic services. I mean I actually...today I
was invited by the prime minister after we had our weekly meeting with
him, the ambassador and I, he said, "Will you stay around and sit in on
the meeting with the ministers of oil and electricity?" And so I said,
"Okay. I guess so." I mean after three and one-half years of monitoring
daily exports, towers up or down, you know, 400KV, 132KV, 11KV, the
different oil lines, the different generators, and everything else, it's
actually helpful. And in fact, I just got a commitment from, you know,
an enormous, maybe the biggest, electrical production company in the
world to renew its efforts here after some pretty frustrating years,
frankly. So...
WP: So you're going to have...The surge is going to be gone by July.
Are you...do you think the government has lost an opportunity to...
GENERAL PETRAEUS: No. I think...no. I think the opportunity is
very much still there.
WP: You're going to have less...you're going to have the surge
troops gone. One of the key goals of the surge troops is not...won't be
achieved by July.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: Well, again, the security progress, again, we
certainly will do all that we can. I mean we're going to fight like the
dickens to maintain the progress and where we can to try to build on it.
I mean we are really just embarking on the effort in Mosul which is of
enormous importance to al-Qaeda and the related groups. It's just very,
very significant because of geography, politics, money.
WP: Yeah.
- 30 -
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE MNF-I PRESS DESK at:
MNFIPressdesk@iraq.centcom.mil.
FOR THIS PRESS RELEASE AND OTHERS VISIT WWW.MNF-IRAQ.COM.
Posted by: Richard S. Lowry | March 15, 2008 at 10:04 AM
The Post's story is fantasy. Here is what MNF-I had to say about that interview:
MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ
PRESS DESK
BAGHDAD, Iraq
http://www.mnf-iraq.com
703.343.8790
Press Release 080314a
March 14, 2008
Transcript of General Petraeus Interview with the Washington Post on
Government of Iraq Progress
Today's Washington Post inaccurately characterized the discussions
General Petraeus and their reporters had yesterday. During the one-hour
interview General Petraeus never intimated or stated that Iraqi leaders
have "failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make
adequate progress toward resolving their political differences."
The Washington Post has been asked to make a correction on this
statement and we are awaiting their decision.
The following transcript is from an interview with the Washington Post's
Sudarsan Raghavan, Joshua Partlow and Cameron Barr of Gen. Petraeus'
comments on the Government of Iraq's economic and political progress.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: ...The government does have to achieve
legitimacy in the eyes of many in the Sunni Arab community, if not most.
There's no question. Actually, it has to achieve legitimacy in the eye
of all Iraqis...... and that can only come by improving the level of
services, again -- some of which are going to take some time, but some
of which they can do in a...
WP: But they have political power. Anbar wants political power.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: And they will get it. But again, that's why
they want provincial elections. That's why the provincial powers law and
the subsequent provincial election laws are so important. I mean that's
why Ambassador Crocker and I have repeatedly noted that, you know, it's
crucial that the Iraqis exploit the opportunity that we and our Iraqi
counterparts have fought so hard to provide them. And they did start
down that road. They have made a start down that road. And, you know,
the laws that were passed, some of them are steps toward the kind of
progress that is needed to begin to cement the gains that have been
achieved in the security arena.
WP: Do you think enough has been done? I mean last year, you know,
you've even said it...
GENERAL PETRAEUS: Sure.
WP: ...a lot of commanders have said it that the key goal of the
surge...
GENERAL PETRAEUS: Sure.
WP: ...is to foster political reconciliation.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: No. -- Let me take that again-don't say
that......let me just answer that one.
WP: Yeah.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: No one...no one in the government or US...or
even in the government of Iraq feels that there has been sufficient
progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation,
legislation to cement the gains, and so on. They are all keenly aware.
And the same with respect to basic services. I mean I actually...today I
was invited by the prime minister after we had our weekly meeting with
him, the ambassador and I, he said, "Will you stay around and sit in on
the meeting with the ministers of oil and electricity?" And so I said,
"Okay. I guess so." I mean after three and one-half years of monitoring
daily exports, towers up or down, you know, 400KV, 132KV, 11KV, the
different oil lines, the different generators, and everything else, it's
actually helpful. And in fact, I just got a commitment from, you know,
an enormous, maybe the biggest, electrical production company in the
world to renew its efforts here after some pretty frustrating years,
frankly. So...
WP: So you're going to have...The surge is going to be gone by July.
Are you...do you think the government has lost an opportunity to...
GENERAL PETRAEUS: No. I think...no. I think the opportunity is
very much still there.
WP: You're going to have less...you're going to have the surge
troops gone. One of the key goals of the surge troops is not...won't be
achieved by July.
GENERAL PETRAEUS: Well, again, the security progress, again, we
certainly will do all that we can. I mean we're going to fight like the
dickens to maintain the progress and where we can to try to build on it.
I mean we are really just embarking on the effort in Mosul which is of
enormous importance to al-Qaeda and the related groups. It's just very,
very significant because of geography, politics, money.
WP: Yeah.
- 30 -
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE MNF-I PRESS DESK at:
MNFIPressdesk@iraq.centcom.mil.
FOR THIS PRESS RELEASE AND OTHERS VISIT WWW.MNF-IRAQ.COM.
Posted by: Richard S. Lowry | March 15, 2008 at 10:06 AM
I am a free-lance reporter in Virginia. I recently read a small piece in a newspaper re our troops removing some yellow-cake uranium from Iraq. I would like to verify this. And,certainly the president would like to know about this. How about contacting him? Yours, Carolyn
Posted by: Carolyn E. Fix | December 02, 2008 at 11:56 AM