Petraeus sees progress in 2 campaigns

[unhappycamper]

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/02/ap_petraeus_022010/">Petraeus sees progress in 2 campaigns
By Geoff Mulvihill - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Feb 20, 2010 17:56:24 EST

PRINCETON, New Jersey — The U.S. commander overseeing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan said Saturday that the military is on pace in its plans to shift away from a combat mission in Iraq, but he warned that casualties will worsen in Afghanistan.

Army Gen. David Petraeus said in a speech at Princeton University that after more than eight years of fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. finally is getting enough troops, diplomats and organizational structure to be able to keep extremist groups from taking over again there.

"We've gotten the inputs right, now we are embarking on what's going to be the output," he said. "The reality is it's going to be hard, it's going to be hard all the time. We're going to have tough losses."

Petraeus, who was the top commander in Iraq before becoming head of the U.S. Central Command in October 2008, said the U.S. has done more than commit more resources to Afghanistan. It's also changed big ideas about how to handle the war, he said.

One key, he said, is recognizing the Afghan people as part of the terrain of war.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/02/ap_petraeus_022010/

[howard112211]

1. One would think that generals

would do all the math and work out the details of how to deal with civilians being present BEFORE going to war, not nearly ten years into it...