Petraeus & Crocker Report on Iraq
Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 08:41AM GEN David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker gave their long awaited reports on the military and political status in Iraq. Democrats preached to the General and Ambassador, pontificated and directed as if they were the generals on the ground. Nonetheless, GEN Petraeus reported on the progress, describing the difficulties and warning of the repercussions of a precipitous withdrawal, which he described as having devastating consequences.
GEN Petraeus’ Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq
Ambassador to Iraq Crocker gave an impressive briefing describing the unimaginable challenges of Iraqis, giving excellent context to the difficulties they has a people must grapple with, comparing it to some of America’s darker days during the civil rights movement, for example. Crocker has a deep fondness and obvious passion for the Iraqi people and made an excellent case on their behalf.
Ambassador Crocker’s Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq
Iraq is experiencing a revolution - not just regime change. It is only by understanding this that we can appreciate what is happening in Iraq and what Iraqis have achieved, as well as maintain a sense of realism about the challenges that remain.
Evaluating where Iraqis are today only makes sense in the context of where they have been. Any Iraqi under 40 years old - and that is the overwhelming majority of the population - would have known nothing but the rule of the Ba'ath party before liberation four and a half years ago. Those 35 years were filled with crimes against humanity on every scale. Saddam Hussein ruled without any mercy, not hesitating to use lethal force and torture against even those in his inner circle. His genocidal campaign against the Kurds and savagery toward southern Shi'a are well known. But he also used violence and intimidation as tools in the complete deconstruction of Iraqi society. No organization or institution survived that was not linked in some way to regime protection. He created a pervasive climate of fear in which even family members were afraid to talk to one another.
This is the legacy that Iraqis had as their history when Saddam's statue came down on April 9, 2003. No Nelson Mandela existed to emerge on the national political scene; anyone with his leadership talents would have not survived. A new Iraq had to be built almost literally from scratch, and the builders in most cases were themselves reduced to their most basic identity, ethnic or sectarian.
Much progress has been made, particularly in building an institutional framework where there was none before. But rather than being a period in which old animosities and suspicions were overcome, the past 18 months in particular have further strained Iraqi society. The sectarian violence of 2006 and early 2007 had its seeds in Saddam's social deconstruction and it had dire consequences for the people of Iraq as well as its politics. Extensive displacement and widespread sectarian killings by al-Qa'ida and other extremist groups have gnawed away at the already frayed fabric of Iraqi society and politics. It is no exaggeration to say that Iraq is - and will remain for some time - a traumatized society.
Fantastic analysis by the abmassador. It’s clear from Crocker’s extensive experience with the people of the Middle East that he not only understands their dilemmas (and literally speaks their language) but is an advocate for their future.
Ryan Crocker Ambassador to Iraq:
- U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, October 2004 to March 2007
- International Affairs Advisor at the National War College, 2003.
- Director of Governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, May to August 2003
- Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, August 2001 to May 2003,
- Ambassador to Syria (1998-2001),
- Ambassador to Kuwait (1994-1997)
- Ambassador to Lebanon (1990-1993)
- Foreign Service in 1971, assignments in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt, Washington.
- assigned to the American Embassy in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the bombings of the embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983.
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Reader Comments (5)
Right now, Hagel is making a complete fool of himself.
He has JUST said that 7 NCOs, disgruntled at that, trump the reports given and being given by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.
He is rambling on about political solutions.
Again, a complete and total blithering friggin' fool.
My thoughts exactly. Complete incompetence. Serve your country, Hagel, and RETIRE NOW!
The Gen.and the Amb.are like two sides of a vice with the moonbats head in the middle and they are slowly tightening the jaws, awesome! I can't wait for them to pop or will they just ooze out like the mush they are.
The squirming and the "repositioning" and the panicky "clarifying" has just begun. Today on Kos the editorial was so abtuse, so tortuous I almost (but not quite) found myself feeling sorry for the poor befuddled author, who was facing such an enormous task of obfuscation and denial. At one point, in utter desperation, he was attempting to define the ellusive difference between the words "betray" and "traitor".
If they wern't so damn dangerous to our national security, they'd be hilarious.
OUR GANG BY WOLFGANG
Wolfowitz Petraeus Mozart
Knew that confidence denotes art,
So he did the best he can
To play the confidential man.
He knew so much, but left some to
Superiors who better knew,
And he professed to have a chart
As revelatory of his art.
Sweet accolades and honors were
His for the taking: so confer
Honors the richest, wisest, smartest
Upon one so sublime an artist.
His art is hanging in Iraq,
A helium-blubber-filled Big Mac,
A multi-colored jammin´ dildo--
No tellin´ how far up that he´ll go!