The May 10, 2007 Iraq Letter
On May 4, 2007, a key readiness report was released by the Office of the Surgeon General. It had many key findings andrecommendations.
General Petraeus reacted to the report:
The top U.S. commander in Iraq admonished his troops regarding the results of an Army survey that found that many U.S military personnel there are willing to tolerate some torture of suspects and unwilling to report abuse by comrades.
“This fight depends on securing the population, which must understand that we – not our enemies – occupy the moral high ground,” Army Gen. David H. Petraeus wrote in an open letter dated May 10 and posted on a military Web site.
Even though he was extremely concerned about the findings he did nothing about the recommendations but he did send a letter to the troops.
General Petraeus is attempting to win the hearts and minds of the Iraq people which is a difficult task to accomplish. If that is ones goal, he is expressing the correct concern in his letter.
A letter however, will not cause the behavior that he would like to change to change, the Surgeon General knows this and had recommendations specified to meet this.
I know that there is a segment of the population that is saying we have to “win in Iraq.” Other than I do not know what “win in Iraq’ is because we already won, I do understand the emotion of wanting to “win.” You want to “win against the IRS when you do your taxes.” You want “the team to win.” You want to “win the ebay bid.”
If you want to “win” in Iraq you have to ensure that American Soldiers/Marines are in a position to “win.” Only fresh and rested troops can accomplish the difficult task of winning hearts and minds in Iraq.
— Oak Leaf