For some great analysis on Bush's speech, Petraeus' report, and the current war situation, look
here.
Best is from
Michael Yon, an independent reporter who is certainly worth your time and attention if you want to know what is going on in Iraq.
"During this week’s congressional hearings on progress in Iraq, General David Petraeus sat side-by-side with Ambassador Ryan Crocker and delivered some of the most candid-yet-informed talk I have heard about the war since it began. Despite that some elected officials raised questions about the veracity of the report, or sought to advance alternative policy adjustments in response it, I didn’t have to take their words on faith or support their recommendations on ideological grounds or for political agendas. I’ve been on the ground in Iraq long enough, and have seen enough of the country, to know that everything said by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker was an accurate reflection of my own direct experience. Things are different in Iraq. And they are better."
"The indicators were going in the wrong direction, and sharply, for most of 2006. I have been a vocal critic of the bad policy decisions and clumsy executions that combined to put us in a virtual freefall in Iraq. Chief among these was a near constant failure on the part of policymakers, elected or appointed, to listen to the recommendations of military and diplomatic officials on the ground. Putting ideology before reality and political survival before national security got us into dire straits. Petraeus and Crocker offered sober, seasoned, and narrow way forward out of the mire. My only question watching the hearings, and listening to the president’s address Thursday night, was whether Congress and the administration had learned from their many mistakes. From Bush’s speech, it’s clear the president had heard and listened to his two top officials in Iraq. Petraeus and Crocker told the truth, as did the president."
