Speaking today in a speech to the Senate Gen. David Petraeus termed the largely fictional gains in Afghanistan “fragile and reversible” and cited al-Qaeda as a reason to continue the war.
Though he may have remembered to change the nation to Afghanistan, there is ample evidence to suggest that the US commander hastily grabbed for his speech and actually took one from late 2007 by mistake.
That’s because apart from being about Iraq instead, the speech used all the same talking points right down to the “fragile and reversible” soundbite.
Of course we know that Petraeus couldn’t have really meant to use al-Qaeda as an excuse, as we all clearly remember Gen. Stanley McChrystal, his predecessor, reporting to us that there was no al-Qaeda presence left, a year and a half ago.
