Q: A year ago when you assumed command here you said in a speech that the rucksack of responsibility was very heavy. Twelve months on, has the load become lighter or easier to manage given the developments?

A: We’ve had some exceedingly tough times, obviously. The months of April, May, June even into July, and the very tough casualties that we sustained and that our Iraqi partners sustained as we went into al-Qaeda sanctuaries and had to fight to take them away, which was again, we knew it was going to happen. You may recall that I said this is going to get harder before it get easier, but that was very, very hard. And there were moments when General Odierno [Commanding Genral of US III Corps] and I would look at each other and say ’When are we going to get to that point? When are we going to cross this?’ It did finally come, although I am not implying that we have turned corners or are seeing lights at the end of the tunnel or are doing victory dances in the end zone because we are doing none of that.

Ambassador Crocker and I won’t even characterize ourselves as an optimist or a pessimist at this point. We just say that we are a realist and the reality of Iraq is that nothing is easy and everything is very hard. But there were days that were about the hardest that I have ever experienced and where the rucksack of responsibility was biting if you will into one’s shoulders, metaphorically speaking. So there is a discussion of the loneliness of command and it is the most lonely when the going is the most difficult.

We are obviously encouraged to see the significant progress in the security arena. We are at the lowest point in indirect fire attacks in any statistics that we have going back to the beginning of 2004. Iraqi civilian casualties are dramatically reduced.

The reduction in civilian deaths from the period of October of 2006 through early 2007 is just very, very dramatic. It shows you how out of control the situation was in certain parts of Baghdad and how horrific the sectarian violence was. There were 55 dead bodies a night in Baghdad in December 2006 just from sectarian violence. That did not include al-Qaeda on Sunni neighbourhoods that were not supporting al-Qaeda, nor militia against Shia who were trying to be professional non-sectarian. And there was plenty of that as well.

We are really very heartened by the over 60 per cent reduction in attacks, by the reduction in civilian casualties, by the reduction in Iraqi and coalition casualties, by the reduction in IEDs, [improvised explosive devices] a vast increase in cache finds.

Now we see the beginnings of political progress as well with the trifector that the Council of Representatives approved last week, with the budget law, the amnesty bill and the provincial powers law coming on top of the pensions law and the flag law and accountability and justice, the latter of which though has to be implemented in the spirit of reconciliation that we believe was behind its approval. We caveat that particular law with that caution.

Q: What is the significance of these political steps?

A: It is very significant. It starts Iraq on the road to provincial elections, which are a very important element in virtually all of the provinces. The Sunni provinces in particular, because of the Sunni boycott, feel that they are either under represented or perhaps that those who are in provincial council are not representative of their interests.

Q: How did it make you feel when the three laws were passed last week?

A: It almost brought tears to my eyes. We were in Jihad, walking around, I think it is the first day in any formerly dangerous place in Baghdad where I walked with no body armour no kevlar. We were walking around with Iraqis who have been instrumental in healing rifts between Sunni and Shia and bringing Jihad back to life. It was incredibly vibrant. We got the word from Speaker Mashedani’s assistant or son spoke to my translator.

It is a big deal. We have fought for this thing. We have sacrificed with our Iraqi brothers enormously for it. We take it hugely personally as we should.

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