“It is not in our power to turn back the clock to the day before the al Askaria Mosque was bombed. We can, however, in partnership with our Iraqi colleagues, help improve the security situation and enable the Iraqi people to control the demons responsible for the vicious sectarian violence of the past year; demons that tore at the very fabric of Iraqi society. Indeed, our operations will endeavor to provide Iraqi citizens and leaders a chance to mend that fabric.”
Gen. David Petraeus gave his first news conference today since taking over command last month. His message is the same one Bryan Preston and I heard over and over from officers of the Dagger Brigade during our January embed:
Counterinsurgency will not succeed by military force alone.
The Pentagon Channel has the full press briefing video.
The White House distills the following highlights from the briefing:
Highlights from General Petraeus’ Press Briefing Today:
Sectarian killings in
Sectarian displacement of families is down, with some families beginning to return to their neighborhoods.
96 weapons caches have been discovered in the
Two major car bomb factories have been destroyed on the outskirts of
Hundreds of extremists have been captured or killed, including some mid-level members of al Qaeda in
Coalition forces destroyed several trucks equipped with weapons used to target Coalition aircraft.
A number of tribes in
The Council of Ministers has sent the Hydrocarbon Law to the Iraqi Parliament. The proposed law treats
Budgetary advances have been made, including earmarking $7.3 billion dollars for security related expenses and over $10 billion in capital investment in vital infrastructure.
Yesterday, Iraqi officials led by Deputy Prime Minister Salih met to plan for the disbursement of budgeted Iraqi funds.
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