Petraeus Didn't Promise a Quick Fix

By Hugh Hewitt

Even as news from Iraq continues to point to dramatic and far-reaching successes in the mostly Sunni provinces of Anbar and Diyala, news reports continue to suggest chaos in the Shia-dominated south in the wake of a British pull back from the region. On the ground, commanders dispute these characterizations and point to increasing stability in Basra as evidence that directly contradicts this alarmism.

General Petraeus never promised a quick or easy solution to Iraq's post-Saddam reconstruction, but what he did promise--real and measurable security progress followed by political reconciliation--is in fact taking place, sometimes at a tempo we had no right to expect and for which we should be grateful.

In the face of real progress, defeatists in the West are doing their best to obscure these important gains won at great cost and infused with great significance for long-term peace in the Middle East.

Americans don't want happy talk, but they don't need or want unduly pessimistic attempts to skip over genuine accomplishment in Iraq. Less agenda journalism, please, and more facts. Many, many more facts.