The Gen Westmoreland LATEOTT Awards

I hereby declare the creation of the monthly General William Westmoreland Light at the End of the Tunnel award for the most egregiously self-deluded pronouncement about the "progress" we are making in the Quagmire Formerly Known as Iraq.

The first nominee for the July award is Major General William Webster, who on Friday offered this strong platform to the nominating committee:

"U.S. and Iraqi forces have 'mostly eliminated' the ability of insurgents to conduct sustained, high-intensity attacks in Baghdad, the top U.S. commander in the Iraqi capital said Friday.

Maj. Gen. William G. Webster Jr. said in a video-teleconference interview from Baghdad with reporters at the Pentagon that offensive operations by U.S. and Iraqi troops in recent weeks had sharply reduced the number of insurgent bombings. But he cautioned against concluding that the insurgency has been broken.
...
'There are some more threats ahead,' he said. 'I do believe, however, that the ability of these insurgents to conduct sustained, high-intensity operations as they did last year, we've mostly eliminated that.'"

The committee invites other nominees to submit their qualifications.