Iraq Pullback = Increasing Violence?

According to David H. Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, American troop pullback would lead to increasing violence and sectarian killings. He spoke at the Pentagon hours before the Senate moved to approve a plan that called for troop reductions in October at the latest. President Bush threatened to veto this measure, but the House managed to narrowly pass the plan on Wednesday.

General Petraeus cautiously tried to stay out of the political debate, saying that he has "tried to stay clear of the political mine fields of various legislation proposals," but he insisted that there would be many risks to pulling out before the end of the year. He declined to say how many U.S. troops will be needed in Iraq in the future, but he did say that the war "clearly is going to require enormous commitment and commitment over time." He added that "this effort may get harder before it gets easier."

Petraeus listed some of the successes of the war and said, "the sense of gradual progress and achievement we feel on the gound in many areas in Iraq is often eclipsed by the sensational attacks that overshadow our daily accomplishments." This brings to mind our recent readings on media and the tendency for it to play up the unfavorable (and therefore more entertaining) events and ignore everything else.