Wexler: What Did My Consitutents’ Son Die For On Sunday?

Jeff Wexler of Boca Raton said that on Sunday, a 36-year old Major, the son of two of his constituents, died in the Green Zone as the result of a mortar attack. What, he wanted to know, did that young man die for?

Petraeus, it really should be said, handled that one magnificently. Respectfully, and with dignity, he said “it has to do with national interest.” With Al Qaeda. With the “spread of sectarian conflict,” and “with Iran.” If you don’t like that answer, it’s Bush’s fault, not Petraeus’s.

He went further. What’s victory? “An Iraq at peace with its neighbors, broadly responsive to itself and its citizens, and [taking] its place in the global economy.” He and Crocker “are minimalists,” Petraeus said. “We’re not after the holy grail in Iraq, and we’re not after Jeffersonian democracy.” Good answers.