General Petraeus has written an open letter to the members of Multinational Forces Iraq, the full text of which can be read here.
The environment in Iraq is the most challenging that I have seen in over 32 years of service. Indeed, few soldiers have ever had to contend with the reality of an enemy willing to blow himself up for his twisted cause. In view of that, as you conduct your daily operations, remember that you have every right to protect yourself, even as you attempt to prevent situations from escalating without good reason.
I also want you to be aware of my recognition that our focus on securing the population means that many of you will live in the neighborhoods you’re securing. That is, in fact, the right way to secure the population–and it means that you will, in some cases, operate in more austere conditions than you did before we adjusted our mission and focus. . . . This approach is necessary, because we can’t commute to the fight in counterinsurgency operations; rather, we have to live with the population we are securing. As you carry out the new approach, I also count on each of you to embrace the warrior-builder-diplomat spirit as we grapple with the demands that securing the population and helping it rebuild will require.
There’s a lot to like in this letter–liberal rules of engagement, a more aggressive strategy both for fighting insurgents and helping civilians rebuild. And the idea that the troops “can’t commute to the fight in counterinsurgency operations” strikes me as a rebuke to the Democrats’ call for “strategic redeployment.” If one can’t commute to fight insurgents, neither can one commute to fight terrorists. At least in the Sunni heartland, insurgents and terrorists are indistinguishable.
