The fight against al Qaeda in Iraq

The News Hour:

...

JIM LEHRER: I looked at some casualty figures, General, in the last seven weeks. As of today, more than 160 Americans have been killed, as I saw it, and more than 5,000 Iraqis and double the number of Iraqi police from February to March. Do those figures -- what do those figures tell you and tell the American people about the level of progress, if anything?

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: Well, one thing that it tells us is that Iraqi security forces, certainly, are on the front lines and are fighting and dying for their country. They are committed to this endeavor.

It also tells us, as I noted a second ago, that al-Qaida is still capable and able to cause significant death of innocent civilians. In fact, that has rebounded against them in some parts of the country.

While finding the level of sectarian violence upon returning here was, frankly, something quite disheartening to see, on the other hand, going into Anbar province to the west of Baghdad and seeing Sunni Arab tribes fighting against al-Qaida was very heartening.

In fact, that's a major development in a province that, as you'll recall, some six or eight months ago, many were ready to write off as a lost cause, and all of a sudden you have cities all the way from the border, al-Qaim through Haditha, Hit, Ramadi and Fallujah, where tribes have volunteered for the Iraqi security forces.

In fact, in the latest recruiting effort, which used to draw minimal numbers of Iraqis willing to serve in the Iraqi army or the Iraqi police in Anbar province, there were over 2,000 volunteers for the latest training. And, again, that's quite a shift and quite -- frankly, it's a stunning development and reflects the frustration that the Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar have had with al-Qaida and what al-Qaida has done to them, to their sheiks, their families, their young men and, frankly, to their businesses and livelihoods.

It has really had a devastating effect. And they have said, "No more," and stood up and voted with themselves and with their young men.

...

Much of this interview is wasted with Lehrer trying to get the General to take sides in the congressional debate. For the most part he successfully avoids the trap.

Later he is asked about the McCain market visit:

...

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: No, I mean, he spent an hour in the market. I was actually with him. He was in a baseball cap. He did wear body armor, because we advised that he ought to do that. Certainly, there was security around him. I mean, nobody ever wants to lose, you know, senior senator or the multinational force Iraq commander in their area of operations.

But having said that, there were tens of thousands of Iraqis in that market. It's the largest or second-largest market in Baghdad. It is one of those that has been hardened by the placement of concrete barriers literally all around it.

And it may be as much as a kilometer, almost a mile long, so this is an enormous market, as I said, tens of thousands of Iraqis in it. He was not protected by a cocoon of security. Yep, there was security there, but he was out -- actually he helped the Iraqi economy quite a bit, bought a number of carpets, in fact. And he haggled with the merchants himself, with an interpreter, and was moving all around very freely.

So, I mean, he asked to be allowed to drive down the airport road, to be able to go out and actually see some parts of Baghdad that congressional delegations do not normally see. We go down to these markets fairly frequently, several times a week, to see how it's going, and the revival of the markets is one of those indicators, in fact, that we watch.

And it was good to be able to let him see one of these very vibrant markets, which, by the way, eight weeks ago, was hit by a car bomb, before right around the start of the Baghdad security operation, with devastating effects, with dozens and dozens of Iraqis killed, before vehicles were excluded from traveling into the market during its operation.

...

The media's attempt to ridicule Sen. McCain's visit to this market is a strong showing of bias and an attempt to undercut the progress being made in Iraq. BTW, I have been saying for months they needed to restrict vehicle traffic during hours of operation. I am not sure why the Iraqis were so reluctant to do it.

There is much more including questions about the security provided McCain. The Senator showed great personal courage and disparaging it is contemptible.

Max Boot also confirms Sen. McCain's story on the shopping trip.