Fort Hood general defines progress

April 19, 2008, 9:27PM
SUNDAY CONVERSATION
Fort Hood general defines progress, victory in Iraq


By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, of Fort Hood, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. He spoke with Houston Chronicle reporter Dane Schiller. Here are excerpts from that conversation.

Q: Are we winning the war?

A: I wouldn't say we are winning, but we are making progress. The people who have to win the war are the Iraqis.
Infrastructure and all those things, when you're winning a war, you want to say all that is going to be fixed and everything is going to be back to normal and people won't shoot at you, because they can earn a living. They can go to school. They can get an education. And by the way, the power runs, the water runs, the trash gets hauled away. All that has gone in the right direction. But winning? I think we have a long way to go to say we're winning.

Q: People talk about the war like never before. What do you tell the troops to keep their morale up?

A: The troops have to be focused on what their task at hand is. If you get distracted by other things, it is going to complicate life.

Q: What do you tell them when they say, 'Sir, look at what they are saying?' Some politicians and others are saying, 'No more war.'

A: You honestly don't worry about it. Obviously, we see it. We're all Americans. We understand our process. But that political process is a separate function from what the military guys are doing. There is no reason to get bogged down in it, because you have no way to influence it. And there is no need to worry about it, because you can't control it.

Q: With the Internet, the troops are constantly in contact with family. Is that good for their morale and getting their job done?
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The new video I did on PTSD Not God's Judgment, ended causing me to receive an email that was perplexing. It was from someone who support Bush still and was "saddened" that I take the attitude I do toward this. While I try to keep politics out of this blog, reserving it for my other one, it's necessary here.

There is a lot of talk about what the troops think about the arguing going on in the country, especially from the people who do not question anything Bush has done. The point is, the troops have to focus on today and their job. The General put it well when he said they can't do anything about it. The problem is, they can't do anything about it when they come home either. I'm not talking about brining all the troops back home but I addressing the way they do not get what they need when they come home. Their wounds are not taken care of. They are redeployed over and over again without the proper time to rest and recover. The wounded are even being sent back. In the end, General Anderson said that it is up the Iraqi people and will not be won by the troops. Every honest general has had the same thing to say, stating clearly there is no military solution to Iraq. So whose job is it? Whose job is it to take care of them when they come home? Both belong to Bush and it's time we faced that fact along with the fact that he is on his way out of office. We all better start demanding solutions and action on the wounded before we end up in a bigger mess than we're already in for their sake.