Petraeus On Troop Surge, Change In Iraq
To get a boots-on-the-ground view of the impact of the surge, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the man who will report to Congress next week, choppered a CBS News crew over Anbar province, which was once the most dangerous places in all of Iraq. It's a place that has seen some of the bloodiest fighting - and a place he says is now a snapshot of what's going right.
"You say Fallujah is a real success story. What turned it around?" asked CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Katie Couric.
"What turned it around was the local population deciding to reject al Qaeda," said Petraeus.
After U.S. troops retook the city by force in late 2004, life is now slowly returning to normal. Fallujah is safer. The relationship between American troops and Sunnis is strong.
How important was the surge in getting this done?
"It gave us an ability to clear and to hold some areas that were sanctuaries for al Qaeda in the past," Petraeus said. "And then what happened is you have a situation where you are spiraling upwards instead of spiraling downwards.
More than three years ago, Fallujah was a notorious dateline - the fighting against al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents was the most intense of the war. The most searing image: four U.S. contractors burned alive and dragged through the streets. It was a horrifying reminder of soldiers being dragged through Somalia 10 years earlier. The U.S. pulled out, considering it off limits - a lost cause.Complete Coverage: America In Iraq: The Road Ahead
The powerful tribal leaders of Anbar province, who are really the heads of large extended families, rejected the harsh, brutal tactics of al Qaeda. Sheik Saddoun Al Bou'issa lost 30 members of his tribe.
"We think they care about Islam, but they lie, they cut heads, they destroy Iraq. They don't like Iraq to be safe," Saddoun said.
Now his greatest worry is that al Qaeda will return if the Americans leave.
"We ask the Americans to help us until we finish al Qaeda. If they back one step, they will destroy everything we build," he said.
The decision by the tribal leaders to fight al Qaeda spread across Anbar province, and it made joining the Iraqi security forces an honorable choice. The Iraqi police force grew by more than 200 percent in just the last year, to 19,000. Violent incidents have dropped from more than 1,400 last March to just over 400 in August.
While these new recruits rely heavily on U.S. training and equipment, they want them here now, but not indefinitely.
When asked if they would rather have U.S. troops here than al Qaeda, a recruit told Couric: "A time will come when al Qaeda is gone, and a time will come when the Americans will go as well."
CBS News' visit involved extensive security afforded any four-star general, but Petraeus told Couric that you can feel when a place is dangerous. He believes this one is not.
"Some people might be watching this and saying this is a nice dog and pony show. Yeah, there are some areas of calm, but if you look at the country as a whole, it's still a nightmare," said Couric.
"If you look at the country as a whole, there is an unacceptable level of violence. But that level of violence, the number of ethno-sectarian deaths, you name it, the number of incidents [Sunni-Shia] has been reduced dramatically," he said. "That's not to say there are not places where it is very, very tough. The question is which way is it headed, and I think it's headed up."
Is it "headed up" enough to start reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq? On Monday, while talking to troops in Anbar Province, President Bush raised the possibility. When Couric sat down with Petraeus following the tour, he left the door open.
"As you know, Sen. John Warner ... after a visit to Iraq, said some troops must come home by Christmas. Do you agree with that?" asked Couric.
"Wait and see when I offer my recommendations to Congress," Petraeus replied. "The surge has to run its course. There's no question about that. The question is how can you make adjustments to the force to bring the force levels down and retain what we have fought so hard to achieve?"