General Petraeus’ Year End Letter to the Troops
December 30th, 2007 at 12:30am Mark Noonan
Here’s a link to the whole letter:
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq:
As 2007 draws to a close, you should look back with pride on what you, your fellow troopers, our Iraqi partners, and Iraqi Coalition civilians have achieved in 2007. A year ago, Iraq was racked by horrific violence and on the brink of civil war. Now, levels of violence and civilians and military casualties are significantly reduced and hope has been rekindled in many Iraqi communities. To be sure, the progress is reversible and there is much more to be done. Nonetheless, the hard-fought accomplishments of 2007 have been substantial, and I want to thank each of you for the contributions you made to them.
In response to the challenges that faced Iraq a year ago, we and our Iraqi partners adopted a new approach. We increased our focus on securing the Iraqi people and, in some cases, delayed transition of tasks to Iraqi forces. Additional U.S. and Georgian forces were deployed to theater, the tours of U.S. unites were extended, and Iraqi forces conducted a surge of their own, generating well over 100,000 more Iraqi police and soldiers during the year so that they, too, had additional forces to execute the new approach. In places like Ramadi, Baqubah, Arab Jabour, and Baghdad, you and our Iraqi brothers fought–often house by house, block by block, and neighborhood by neighborhood–to wrest sanctuaries away from Al Qaeda-Iraq, to disrupt extremist militia elements, and to rid the streets of mafia-like criminals. Having cleared areas, you worked with Iraqis to retain them–establishing outposts in the areas we were securing, developing Iraqi Security Forces, and empowering locals to help our efforts. This approach has not been easy. It has required steadfastness in the conduct of tough offensive operations, creative solutions to the myriad problems on the ground, and persistence over the course of many months and during countless trying situations. Through it all, you have proven equal to every task, continually demonstrating an impressive ability to conduct combat and stability operations in an exceedingly complex environment…
General Petraeus notes, later in the letter, that some troops have already gone home without replacement, and more will do so in 2008 - this is good news for all, not least the troops. Dedicated and brave as they are, its only natural that they’d prefer to be home than patrolling Anbar or Baghdad. As these troops start to come home, I hope that we who didn’t serve will remember them, and remember to welcome them in a proper manner.
Entry Filed under: Patriotism, War on Terror
3 Comments
1. Sorta Blogless Sun&hellip | December 30th, 2007 at 8:25 am
[…] Blogs for Victory has General Patraeus’ year end letter to the troops […]
2. Huck Fillary | December 30th, 2007 at 10:08 am
I’m sure that this thread will turn into another pissing contest, with our resident parrot-lemming-troll-pukes(PLTP) demanding that we good guys define victory. Well, I have a new definition of victory: Victory occurs when the Donkaroaches MoveOn to another issue, having lost the edge to use the former issue to further their cause. This is what has happened in Iraq–the battle is drastically turning our way, and Reidtard, Piglosi, et.al. can’t use it to bash Bush any longer. So they let the issue fade, hoping the people forget all their naysaying about the issue. And their parrot lemmings fall right in line.
So what’s next, Two Americas?
3. Mark | January 1st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I’m a first timer to this page and would just like to make a couple statements.
Liberals are not interested in the ‘TRUTH’ as it were. They are interested in being right, at any cost, even at the cost of our soldiers dignity and even safety throughout the world.
People like Pelosi, Hillary, Reid, Murtha, etc. can say they are for our boys all they want to. But the mere fact that they push FAKE numbers, regarding civilians killed, ignore improvements regarding our latest surge(and then jump on the bandwagon when it appears to be working), slander our commander and chief in a time of war and terror throughout the world(even having the audacity to run and run and ramble on with this lie that ‘BUSH LIED, PEOPLE DIED’, WITH NO PROOF WHATSOEVER!!) and, then, chalk it all up to “neo-con” propaganda and hate-mongering…. is all the evidence needed to show that they are driven by an agenda of money, power and distraction. Pelosi traveling to the Syria, against nearly ALL the administrations wishes, then saying, “We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace,”(Henry Kissinger YOU AINT SISTER, NOT TO MENTION, Bill Clinton’s first secretary of state, Warren Christopher, traveled the road to Damascus to meet with the elder Assad 22 times, and what did that bring, regarding getting Syria to talk peace with Israel? NOTHING!!!! How arrogant is this woman?), should be all the liberals in this country need to wake up. In fact, you would think that they would even be humble and say, “get this lying nutbag out of here”. But it’s obvious……the youth today, largely liberal minded, easily coerced into PINKies and MoveOn’ites, are only interested in being popular with the rest of their indoctrinated parrots for friends. I digress to say that I know many of these people personally and, many of them really do want a change for the better in America. THEY JUST HAVE NO IDEA OF THE COSTS FOR WHAT THEIR IDOLS ARE PROPOSING!!! Look, I’m the first one to admit, and make statements upon the fact, that Bush is NOT doing what the people elected him to do regarding the border(Ramos and Campeon?, anyone?) amongst a plethora of other issues. BUT IMAGINE WHAT 8 YEARS OF GORE WOULD HAVE BROUGHT US? GOD HELP US!!!
Nonetheless, as I’ve tried to study political science objectively, during the 25 years or so that I’ve been reading EVERYTHING I can get my hands on, I’ve always come to the same conclusion. Conservatives REALLY DO want less Government, more power to the people. Liberals have their hands out TO the Government, more than any group, and want them involved with ever facet of our lives. NO THANK YOU!!! And the one unfailing standard, shining through more and more, these recent years, is that 13% OF THIS COUNTRY IS BEING ALLOWED TO RUIN IT FOR THE REST OF US!!!!!
I’m literally nauseous at the thought of what the future holds for my teenage daughters, now in High-school. Why? Because I KNOW that Gore alone, if he gets his way without objection, will bankrupt this country with his OBVIOUS CONVENIENT AGENDA. All the while, taking focus off of our true enemies of the world, that the liberals seem to think are just a figment of us Neo-cons imagination,….. Fundamentalist Islam, Aids, Malaria, Starvation and the BORDER!!! All of which could be solved with less than one year of funding for what Gore is proposing.
I just want to say one last thing………………
GOD SAVE US FROM SOCIALISM!!!!!!!!