Gen. David Petraeus and the future of the Iraqi War.

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! I just got back to blogging after taking a break. Come back and see me! I promise it's not the same old blogging you see everywhere else. I am a Compassionate Conservative. I don't allow uncivil discourse. You'll love it!

The following is from "Noted From Down Under." The blogger is Wesley Morgan who "is a sophomore at Princeton University, where he writes for The Daily Princetonian. He is blogging from Iraq, where he will spend the month on the invitation of the commander of U.S. forces there, Gen. David Petraeus."

You must read the whole thing. If you want a first hand look at perspective over there. Here is the final paragraph. Worth it's weight in gold:


"I’ve stayed away from expressing opinions in this blog (besides that Petraeus is a great commander and that the troops he commands are among the best to have served this country), mostly because I don’t think I have enough information or experience to really have strong opinions one way or the other. I’m going to close here, though, by advocating as strongly as I possibly can that one of Rep. Bird’s ideas be carried out – that Petraeus should, on national television and for a full hour, deliver an unclassified version of the detailed, operational-level Iraq brief that he gives to Congressmen and government officials straight to the public. At no time since the invasion have the American people been given the chance to hear the commanding general’s perspective in a direct, informative, operations-based way, but given how strongly they seem to want to believe in Petraeus – the polls say that Americans have tremendous respect for the general despite having tremendous misgivings about the war and the surge – I think that’s exactly what they need, want, and deserve. When Lt. Gen. Odierno brief Operation Phantom Thunder in June, he gave viewers a superb window into the corps-level offensive; the problem was that no one watched. The talkative, media-savvy Petraeus, I’m certain, would do an even better job and would, if given the chance, draw huge audiences – I’m continually stunned by both the name recognition that he has back home and the respect with which many people who oppose the surge or the war or are on the fence view him. No one, not President Bush, Secretary Gates, Gen. Pace, or the New York Times and Washington Post, can explain the situation we face in Iraq the way David Petraeus can – and the American people, not just Congress and the White House, want to hear that explanation desperately."

Posted by Wesley Morgan on Saturday, August 18, 2007

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