It Was TALKING, Not The Surge That Made A Difference In Iraq

Lt. General Robert G. Gard, Jr. says don’t take his word for it; go back to what General David Patraeus said when he addressed Congress in 2007.

Back then, Petraeus told the Congress that the levels of violence in Iraq were down significantly and that “the tribes” were the key to that transformation. Let me repeat that: recruiting the Sunni tribes (and not the surge) has been the key to success in Iraq, along with the stand-down of the Mahdi Army. Petraeus is not alone in his thinking. The tribes of Anbar joined U.S. forces, according to U.S. Captain Jay McGee — an intelligence officer with the 69th Armored Regiment — because “everyone is convinced Coalition forces are going to leave and they are saying, ‘We do not want Al Qaeda to take control of the area when that happens.”

The ability to bring the Sunnis around to the view that it was in their best interest to work with us made the difference, in spite of opposition from the administration, which has focused so much on a military solution.

Recent published reports confirm that talks with the insurgents began all the way back in December of 2003, when military officers met with Sunni insurgent leaders in Amman, Jordan. Not only that, but when those talks were actually opposed by the administration, the military went ahead with the talks anyway.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.