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Years before US can judge Iraq success
9.3.2010
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March
9, 2010
WASHINGTON, —
The top US general in Iraq said Monday it could be
years before the United States can gauge whether its
long military campaign there had achieved any
measure of success.
General Ray Odierno was speaking a day after
millions of Iraqis defied deadly bomb, mortar and
rocket attacks to vote in the first parliamentary
elections since 2005, seen as a test of the
war-shattered state's fragile democracy.
He rejected the premise of the current Newsweek
magazine cover titled "Victory at Last: the
Emergence of a Democratic Iraq" with a photograph of
former president George W. Bush walking below his
infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner during a May
1, 2003 Iraq speech on an aircraft carrier.
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General Ray Odierno speaks to the press in Baghdad
in 2009, AFP photo |
"I don't think we'll
know whether we were successful or not in Iraq until
three to five or 10 years down the road," he told
MSNBC television.
"Is Iraq a democratic country able to contribute to
peace and stability in the region? That will be the
true test."
Speaking on ABC television, the general said the
United States was "on track" to bring US troop
levels down to 50,000 combat forces by September 1,
and to withdraw all US military from the country by
the end of next year.
Only a "catastrophic" event could change that
timetable, he said.
"But we don't see a catastrophic event on the
horizon right now," Odierno quickly added on MSNBC.
He warned US support for Iraq's fledgling democracy
would not end when all its troops leave the country.
"This will be over a long period of time. We think
we have an opportunity we might never have again,"
said Odierno.
On Sunday, US President Barack Obama hailed Iraq's
elections as an "important milestone" in the
country's history, and praised the courage of Iraqi
voters casting their ballots despite a wave of
violence that left 38 people dead.
"We know that there will be very difficult days
ahead in Iraq and there will probably be more
violence, but like any sovereign independent nation,
Iraq must be free to chart its own course," he said.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, AFP
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