"I Don't Know"

Does "victory" in Iraq make us safer? "I Don't Know", says Petraeus. During the Q&A round at the armed services committee, Senator John Warner, the Virginia Republican ... asked Petraeus a pointed question: "Do you feel that [Iraq war] is making America safer"? Petraeus paused before responding. He then said: "I believe this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objectives in Iraq." That was, of course, a non-answer. And Warner wasn't going to let the general dodge the bullet. He repeated the question: "Does the [Iraq war] make America safer?" Petraeus replied, "I don't know, actually. I have not sat down and sorted in my own mind." This seems consistent with his previous feelings I wrote about here. It seems that, whever we talk about the Iraq war, it is in terms of strategic movement and "winning". It is implied that "winning" will make us safer. Obviously, however, the general is not convinced that this is the case. As a good soldier, Petraeus will execute his orders to the best of his ability, regardless of his personal position on the rightness or wrongness of the order. The burden for the rightness of the order lies with the commander in chief. Good analysis from Andrew on the topic. Juan Cole, Middle East expert, also has a comment. He had this to say about Petraeus, and his sincerity: As for Iraq itself, the best hope for the Dems may be that Gen. Petraeus actually succeeds, over the next year, in significantly reducing ethnic tensions. It is a slim reed to hold onto, as they recognize. But from the moment Bush went into Iraq, Americans were screwed. And that includes the Democratic Party, which is being set up to take the fall. I'm a severe skeptic on the likelihood of anything that looks like success in Iraq. But I don't think career public servants such as Ryan Crocker and David Petraeus are acting as partisan Republicans in their Iraq efforts. I think they both are sincere, experienced men attempting to retrieve what they can for America from Bush's catastrophe. They may as well try, since the Democrats can't over-rule Bush and get the troops out, anyway. If the troops are there, they may as well at least be deployed intelligently, which is what Gen. Petraeus is doing. I wish them well in their Herculean labors. Because if they fail, I have a sinking feeling that we are all going down with them, including the next Democratic president. And their success is a long shot. I'm afraid he's probably right.