Obama acknowledges success of Iraq surge – finally

Something he wouldn’t do last year in a blatant attempt at placating his party’s anti-war base:

President Obama did acknowledge the success of the surge in Iraq and used some of its lessons to develop a plan in Afghanistan, the head of Central Command said Sunday.

Gen. David Petraeus, who is in charge of military operations throughout the Middle East and Central Asia — regions containing Iraq and Afghanistan — said the president asked him how troops worked to secure the population and achieve cooperation with various Iraqi factions, and held several lengthy sessions to review the principles that could be applied in Afghanistan.

During his presidential campaign, Obama frequently discussed how he strongly opposed the war in Iraq and the surge of 2007.

Petraeus said that while Obama “did, in fact” acknowledge the success of the surge, “we’ve spent a lot of time taking the rear view mirrors off the bus and avoiding re-litigating, if you will, you know, past battles and all the rest of this, and focusing to the future.”

And hopefully for President Obama, that “future” for Afghanistan includes winning.

Cross-posted to Right Wing News, where I am helping guestblog for John Hawkins on Sundays.