August 15, 2007

Petraeus Envisions Some Withdrawals Within A Year

Gen. David Petraeus today confirmed reports that his highly awaited September assessment on progress in Iraq would likely include some plan for troop reductions, though he was not prepared to discuss specifics.

Anti-war groups have seized upon recent comments (subscription) by Petraeus to the effect that the counterinsurgency effort could take as many as 10 years, but today he expressed cautious optimism that at least a partial withdrawal was on the horizon. "We know that the surge has to come to an end," he told reporters in Baghdad. "There's no question about that. I think everyone understands that by about a year or so from now we've got to be a good bit smaller than we are right now."

Petraeus said the troop surge had yielded some encouraging signs of success, but conceded that "there's still a lot of hard work to be done against the different extremist elements that do threaten the new Iraq." He cited yesterday's wave of suicide bombings in northern Iraq as evidence of the long road ahead.

Foreign Policy Magazine's Passport blog has more on the general's comments.

Posted at 6:37 PM
Posted to: David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military
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