Petraeus: I Need Another Six Months To Determine Whether "We've Reached A Turning Point"

Thinkprogress.org:

In the past few months, conservatives such as Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) have been quick to declare victory in Iraq. In November, McCain said that "we've succeeded militarily." A day later, Lieberman declared that "we are winning" because "we have made progress" in "one of the most remarkable turnarounds in modern military history."

Gen. David Petraeus, however, appeared on NBC this morning and rebutted the declarations of mission accomplished and said that he'll need at least another Friedman Unit before he can make a judgment:

We think we won't know that we've reached a turning point until we're six months past it. We have repeatedly said that there is no lights at the end of the tunnel that we're seeing. We're certainly not dancing in the end zone or anything like that.

Read the whole story: Thinkprogress.org

Comments

[medon]

04:26 PM on 01/23/2008

Yeah, he and Westmoreland need more time!

[rbspickles]

01:42 PM on 01/23/2008

We have had so many turning points in this invasion of a soveriegn country that all we are doing is going in circles.

[sawbuck]

01:36 PM on 01/23/2008

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love you, Tomorrow
Youre always a day awayyyyyyyyyyyy.....

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

01:06 PM on 01/23/2008

Wasn't it Centcom Chief Fallon who said - Petraeus Is ‘An Ass-Kissing, Little Chickenshit,’ ‘I Hate People Like That’

It's so obvious the Bush administration's surge policy as carried out by his chickenshit lackey Patraeus is just like a little boy with his thumb in the dyke.

Once the troops are drawn down, the violence will inevitably increase if there is no real political solution taken by the Iraqi's themselves.

This surge has been put in place to help John McCain with his Presidential bid. It's purely TIT for TAT: When McCain backed Bush/Rove/Cheney in the 2004 election, the current surge and consequent misleading claims of 'progress', have directly helped him and will continue to help him once he becomes the Republican Nominee.

[MikeDu]

12:33 PM on 01/23/2008

Whoopty-doo. Every six months Betrayus pokes his head above ground and says we gotta wait *another* six months before coming to a conclusion. Whotta load. They're just marking time til Bush is gone. I came to my own conclusion 4 years ago: Waste of lives, waste of treasure, pointless, tragic, criminal. Whatever good may be happening in Iraq now would've happened four years ago if we had just left four years ago. We aren't part of the solution, we're the problem.

[andyboy]

12:28 PM on 01/23/2008

I'm gping to take my economic stimulus money and buy a case of whippets and some weed.

Then I'll smoke some herb & huff a couple whippers. Then I'll get some dish detergent and fill a shallow bowl. Get a coathanger tie an old t-shirt to it and dip it into the bubbles lift it out and wave the big bubble blower in the air and pop off a few 2 or 3 foot diameter bubbles. The colors are groovy and they look real peaceful floating over the neighborhood.

[pfc1369]

12:27 PM on 01/23/2008

Listen Up, and Listen Up Good, Pilgrims.
Here's the order of battle we shall follow, exactly:

Today.

6 days from today.

6 weeks from today. 6 months from today.

6 months after that.

6 months from Shavuot.

6 months from a month of Sundays.

And every 6 months thereafter.

You will be notified of any changes in 6 months.

John( Petraeus )Wayne, Cmdr.

[mellene]

11:31 AM on 01/23/2008

Interesting how the need for another six months coincides with heating up for the presidential elections when the rich and faithful return from their summer vacations. I smell a rat.

[KeysDan]

11:28 AM on 01/23/2008

The rotation of the generals in Iraq should be stopped. Each one of them has come in with a fury of ideas and fervor for a great win (whatevr that may mean at the time); maybe if they had to stay until stable results are evident and they can show accountability for their grand military schemes, some realism may occur. Of course, if we are to follow McCain's 100-year war, it may be difficult for some of the older generals to hang in there that long, but the stay should be a substantial one. No quick out to Brussels, or some other cushy post, and leave the latest mess to the next guy while we get to be fed the next line.

[Cathexis]

11:16 AM on 01/23/2008

Petraeus needs another Freidman Unit to determine success? Gee, who'd have seen *that* coming?!?

[darrellepp]

11:02 AM on 01/23/2008

but what would Iran do to Iraq as soon as usa left? read about ben franklin at
http://www.darrellepp.com/?p=44
www.darrellepp.com

[fourex]

10:53 AM on 01/23/2008

Do citizens see the light at the end of their wallets? The General wants just 60 billion more Petraeus Dollars to hand out to the thieves in Baghdad

[Nyla785]

10:27 AM on 01/23/2008

Let's see--pushing it six months out--then, perhaps 'till the end of the year'. Just past the 08 election, I'm sure. Haven't we seen this delaying tactic a few too many times???
Meanwhile about 25 Americans have died in Iraq since the beginning of the year. Isn't it nice that 'the surge is working'?? Not so much for the military families however.

[getoffmedz]

10:21 AM on 01/23/2008

General Petraeus is a political tool who allows our troops to remain in a unnecessarily dangerous situation. He willingly takes orders from assholes who never served to suit the needs of administration handlers.

He won't be around in Iraq in six months, he will be over at NATO (a largely symbolic post) playing soldier.

What a mockery?

[Harrier]

09:57 AM on 01/23/2008

There will also be a need for six more months when you don't know what you are doing