BAGHDAD, March 13 -- Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday.
Petraeus, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services.
The general's comments appeared to be his sternest to date on Iraqis' failure to achieve political reconciliation. In February, following the passage of laws on the budget, provincial elections and an amnesty for certain detainees, Petraeus was more encouraging. "The passage of the three laws today showed that the Iraqi leaders are now taking advantage of the opportunity that coalition and Iraqi troopers fought so hard to provide," he said at the time.
Thanks to being watered-down or outright rejected in a form that would be fair to all, those laws mean nothing in the context of Iraq--all they do is disenfranchise the Sunnis and reinforce the power grab of the Shia majority.
What's funny is that Petraeus basically contradicts Kagan, O'Hanlon, and a whole host of delusional fools like McCain, Huckleberry Graham and whoever else you want to throw in there.
Hey--maybe, just maybe--Petraeus wants to have a career past January 20,2009. Do you think that might explain why he's undercutting the basic neocon talking points?
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