Petraeus: what the US papers say

Last Modified: 11 Sep 2007
By: Channel 4 News

Day one of testimony and the American papers give their early verdict on the Petraeus diagnosis for Iraq.

For USA Today, General David Patraeus's testimony to Congress boild down to "two harsh truths - or if you prefer, refreshingly candid assessements". They are:

"*Success, if it's achievable at all, will take years of American commitment, not the shorter time spans that usually are the focus of political debate.

"* For the nearer term, that commitment will continue to require a massive U.S. troop presence: 137,000 troops next July, the level that existed before the "surge" of 30,000 more began. How many will be needed a year after that is anyone's guess."

'The surge was intended to give Iraqis the opportunity to resolve sectarian conflict peacefully - and by that meansure it has failed.'
Washington Post

The paper says that the "question wafting in the air" is whether the American people are willing to "commit so much for such uncertain returns". And it concludes that whatever the country's long-term commitment turns out to be "it cannot be as open-ended as Petraeus and Crocker would like".

The Washington Post meanwhile says that despite the general's upbeat verdict on reduced violence, ethnic and sectarian conflict remains.

"The surge was intended to give Iraqis the opportunity to resolve that competition peacefully - and by that meansure it has failed," the paper writes.

The New York Times takes issue with the general's headline-grabbing promise of troop reductions in 2008 - from 160,000 to 130,000 by next summer. "That sounds like a big number, but it would only bring American troops to the level that were in Iraq when Mr Bush announced his 'surge' last January.

"It's the rough equivalent of dropping an object and taking credit for gavity."

Finally, the LA Times writer Matt Welch says that despite the clamour for withdrawal from Democrats and the majority of the American public, history and logic point to a long stay. In a piece entitled 'Iraq forever: the powerful logic of constant interventionism', Welch says "the momentum of intervention is so powerful that few Americans, even in Year 4 of a howingly unpopular war, seem to note how far the goalposts have been moved in such a short time."

And he concludes: "So Gen Petraeus will get his six more months of surge, even though Democrats claim it's failing and the public has long since given up hope.

"We'll all reconvene next spring, by which time the goalposts should be moved sufficiently enough that I can plan on writing the exact same column on the seventh anniversary of 11 September as well."