General McCaffery on Iraq

Check out the link below to a very interesting summary of General Barry McCaffery's recent fact-finding mission to Iraq on The Belmont Club. (And yes, it took me four months to finally figure out how to attach links).

As the author notes, Gen. McCaffery opposed the invasion of Iraq, and was once describe by The New Republic as Secretary Rumsfeld's harshest critic. (He has probably lost this title since then). However, after visiting Iraq again last April, he found among other things that:
- The insurgents have been decisively defeated strategically;
- The Iraqi army has made remarkable progress (unfortunately, the Iraqi police are much further behind);
- For a variety of reasons, the media is doing a poor job of reporting the war, which risks undermining the success our troops have had here; and
- U.S. government agencies other than the military and CIA are for various reasons short-changing the war effort.

Anyhow, read the full report for yourself. It confirms much of what I've been writing at DoD and the NSC for over a year now.


Link