Department of Virginia

Iraq Progress Report Shows Signs of Hope

Posted at 08:48 AM on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 by Virginia A/Q

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2007--The highly anticipated Iraq Progress Report was presented to the nation yesterday and today by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the senior American military commander on the ground, Army Gen. David Petraeus.

After two days of testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, Ambassador Crocker said a secure Iraq is attainable but not guaranteed, because success will require substantial resolve from both America and Iraq. General Petraeus said the military objectives of the surge were being met, but he added, "The situation in Iraq remains complex, difficult, and sometimes downright frustrating."

Both expressed hope that the U.S. can achieve its objectives in Iraq, and that was the sign the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. was seeking.

“The war in Iraq has divided the American people,” said George Lisicki, a Vietnam veteran from Carteret, N.J., who leads the country’s largest organization of combat veterans, “but the bottom line is our nation does not go to war to lose. That is a message that must be communicated to our troops, reinforced in our allies, and sent with deadly accuracy to our enemies,” he said.

Read more