“I think Petraeus did an excellent job of explaining this incident in Basra, but overall we have seen a reduction in both ethnic and sectarian violence, terrorist attacks are down, the Iraqis are controlling half of their 18 provinces, and we are seeing that al-Qaeda in Iraq has significantly diminished,” she said, “And I think we can give credit to the troop surge and Petraeus’ experience in counterinsurgency intelligence. So I don’t think we can underestimate the improvements that are taking place on the ground.”
The recent surge in violence, especially in Sadr City that continued over the weekend would not immediately support these views, with correspondents on the scene saying that for the first time they are quite openly seeing snipers on the roofs of buildings and more disturbances on the streets.
Gravel dismissed suggestions that the surge or Petraeus’ expertise was responsible for the pre-Basra reduction in the insurgency across Iraq. Gravel said the reduction had been bought with US taxpayer money, and the relative calm would end as quickly as the money did.
“Do you know how much money Petraeus has been handing out to Sunni warlords?” he asked, “to suppress the violence. Do you really have any idea?”
Schaeffer said she acknowledged there is an impulse to want to put a price tag on the cost of the war, but that doing so, or putting a timeline on how long the war would take, “is just irresponsible.”
Jawad, taking much the same line as Gravel, was deaf to any claims of progress.
“I will tell you of the successes in Iraq,” he said, “One million killed by the US occupation, five million dispersed people internally and externally. More than a million widows, five million orphans, 150,000 people arrested in centres run by the United States in Iraq, and there is a catalogue of catastrophes inflicted on the people of Iraq by this war. And the sooner they withdraw,” he added, “the better for all of us.”
Schaeffer argued that the picture being painted that the US forces were universally unwelcome was misleading, and pointed out that the Iraqi government has vocalized and demonstrated its long term commitment to cooperation to achieve final and lasting peace and democracy in Iraq.
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