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American Legion: Petraeus' strategy in Iraq paying dividends

The leading candidate for national commander of The American Legion says the U.S. must not abandon its effort to stabilize Iraq. Martin Conatser has just returned from a Legion-sponsored trip to that country, and he's convinced the troop surge there "is working" and that sectarian violence and terrorist attacks are being significantly reduced.



The Army veteran's trip to Iraq included a face-to-face meeting in Baghdad with the top U.S. commander there -- General David Petraeus. Conatser also went out on patrol with a striker battalion down Haifa Street in the capital to see life "outside the wire." He recalls a conversation he had while there.

"I was talking [through a translator] to a local on the street, on Haifa Street, and asked, 'Do you want the Americans here?' And his ... initial reply was 'no,' and I looked puzzled -- and he said, 'We don't want you here forever, but we know we need you here now.' So he wasn't saying he didn't want the Americans; he [was saying he] didn't want the Americans to stay forever," Conatser explains.

The retired sergeant major in the Illinois National Guard says he was surprised by how high the morale was among the troops he visited.

"One of the questions that I asked everywhere I went [was] ... 'Is it better now than it was six months ago?' And without exception, they all said 'yes.'" Conatser claims he sought out "the average GI" in his impromptu survey because the regular enlisted man "will tell you what he really feels" out of the presence of officers. "They bought into General Petraeus' philosophy or his strategy," he continues. "They believe they can win."

Conatser believes the U.S. troop surge in Baghdad "is working" -- and is convinced the media has ignored many of the successes in Iraq. But leaving Iraq at this time, he says, would be a disaster for both the U.S. and the Iraqis.