Shifting Sands: Petraeus Report Mixed

by phrolen | August 17, 2007 at 09:35 am

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NowPublic contributor phrolen is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Joint Taskforce Katrina. His commentary is based on actual experience.

The good news is, on the military front, we are winning. That is expected to be the report that U.S. Iraq Commander General David Petraeus will make when he, and Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker, testify about the wars progress on Capital Hill, September 15. From the furthest reaches of the blogosphere, to official reports from the ground, military operations resulting from this years "Surge" have exceeded expectations and real progress is being made. Military and civilian deaths are down, many insurgent strongholds have been cleared, insurgent leaders have been killed and captured, and not least of all Iraq's volitile Anbar has seemingly been pacified with local tribes now fighting Al Qaeda along side coalition forces.

The bad news? Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's unity government has made little progress on national unity and fighting along ethnic and tribal lines still seems to be the order of the day. The latest car bombing of a Kurdish Yazidi neighborhood highlights the precarious nature of Iraq’s flailing national unity. Iraq's political discord also puts a question mark on coalition commitments to Iraq and is sure to set off another fierce debate in Washington after the September report is made. U.S. lawmakers have been assailing each other all summer over the hotly contested Iraq conflict and regardless of recent up ticks in U.S. public opinion regarding the war's prosecution, anti-war critics are likely to see the report as a mandate for retreating from the struggle.

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A September report on the U.S. troop build-up in Iraq is expected to show a mixed picture of military progress but shortcomings on political reconciliation, triggering a new debate over whether a pullout is warranted.

The report due by September 15 from the commanding U.S. general in Iraq, David Petraeus, is widely anticipated as a make-or-break assessment of the impact of President George W. Bush's decision early this year to send thousands more troops into Baghdad and Anbar province to try to bring stability.

With the unpopular war an issue on the U.S. presidential campaign trail and civilian deaths mounting in Iraq, Democrats are likely to use the report as ammunition for their argument it is time to set the United States on a path to reduce its presence in Iraq.

"It's expected to highlight the fact that the situation in Iraq has not improved and that we need a change in strategy," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

Some Republicans nervous about the November 2008 election are likely to raise hard questions about how long the strategy can be maintained given public disapproval of the war.

Senior administration officials familiar with the early work on the report said Petraeus and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, will describe a mixed picture.

There has been more success than expected on the U.S. military's strategy of clearing Baghdad neighborhoods of insurgents and holding them, they said. And perennially restive Anbar province has calmed down as well, they added.

But less progress has been made in coaxing political reconciliation from the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. An oil-revenue sharing law and other key benchmarks remain elusive.

"The good news in Iraq is military -- we're winning. The bad is the Maliki government is not functioning effectively," said Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a presidential candidate. "It's some bad news but it doesn't destroy what is happening on the ground

phrolen, thanks for the background and info. Do you think the cause for the unbalanced coverage is a lack of resources and will or a more conscious effort to confuse the situation?

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