The handwriting is on the wall for all of us to see:----a little more time----till Spring will be the mantra!
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003498.phpPetraeus: September "Not A Deadline For Change In Policy"
By Spencer Ackerman - June 21, 2007, 9:57 AM
For weeks, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have dialed down expectations that their progress report on Iraq, scheduled to be delivered to Congress in September, will represent a decisive moment for the war. Today, in an interview with the Times of London, Petraeus went much further:
“That is a deadline for a report not a deadline for a change in policy, at least not that I am aware of. Ambassador Crocker and I intend to go back and provide a snapshot at that time, however focused the photograph is at that time and begin to describe what has been achieved and what has not been achieved and also to provide some sense of implications of courses of action. Neither of us is under any illusion.”
More controversially, Petraeus defended his decision to arm and equip Sunni tribal fighters vowing to go after al-Qaeda. In recent weeks, the Maliki government has expressed concern that Petraeus's approach both undercuts the effort to build an Iraqi Army and risks creating a new series of quasi-official Sunni militias. But Petraeus, who formerly helmed the U.S. training effort in Iraq, portrayed the militiamen as potential Army recruits: