Let Petraeus Speak!

Wes Morgan, an embed blogger with our troops in Iraq, has an interesting proposal concerning General David Petreaus' September 15 report to Congress on the war:

...Petraeus should, on national television and for a full hour,
deliver an unclassified version of the detailed, operational-level Iraq brief
that he gives to Congressmen and government officials straight to the public. At
no time since the invasion have the American people been given the chance to
hear the commanding general’s perspective in a direct, informative,
operations-based way, but given how strongly they seem to want to believe in
Petraeus – the polls say that Americans have tremendous respect for the general
despite having tremendous misgivings about the war and the surge – I think
that’s exactly what they need, want, and deserve.

I couldn't agree more! One of the events I sorely missed early in the war, were the personal, off the cuff briefings by the Commanding General, as Norman Schwarzkopf understood. Stormin' Norman realized early on the importance of morale and keeping public support in wartime, and often had the Press eating out of his hands. In stark contrast was General Franks, who preferred to delegate such "trivialities" to his subordinates. Now we wonder why the Media and so many Americans are against the war.Somebody talk to us!