St. Petraeus Punts. (Update)

Via BT's link, Austin Bay (to his credit) asks Gen. Petraeus a good question:

I asked, bluntly: "Do you have an idea of what victory would be in Iraq or the Global War on Terror?"

We'll have to see the transcript for the context, but clearly the answer is a resounding "no fucking clue, dude."

Petraeus said the campaign plan had "near-term objectives for summer 2008" and the security objectives have been met. If the Iraqi government passes "the provincial elections law, then it can be declared that they have met them (plan objectives) in the political line of operation ... ." Diplomatic and economic objectives are also being achieved.

Awesome. That makes it all worth it!

...The General's full answer is no better:

GENERAL PETRAEUS: Well, what we have is a comprehensive campaign plan. It is a plan that is joint. It’s between the embassy and embassies, because not just the U.S. Embassy, Ambassador Crocker and his great team, but also the U.K., Australia and other embassies of the Coalition and the Multi-National Force - Iraq have combined in a joint campaign plan. Very, very comprehensive. It has lines of operation that include not just security but also political, economic, diplomatic. Then there are other supporting lines, rule of law, governmental capacity, informational line, and so forth.

And for each of those lines of operation, we have objectives. And we had near-term objectives which were for the summer of 2008 time frame. And, frankly, we met those in the security line of operation. Very nearly met them. If they can pass a provincial elections law, I think that it could be declared that they have met them in the political line of operation.

There’s been very good progress in the diplomatic line, and actually in the economic line as well, all certainly founded on the progress in the security line.

We have similar objectives, or another set of objectives for the summer of 2009. And then there is an end-state as well. And the shorthand for the end-state is a country that is at peace with itself and its neighbors, a government that is represented of and responsive to people, a productive member, if you will, of the region and the global economy, and so forth.

But, again, we have considerable drill-downs, if you will, that describe the objectives relative to, in the security line of operations, relative to the enemies, the bad guys, if you will, relative to Iraqi forces, the different types that are here, and so forth.