'Hard is not hopeless'

Iraq: Before a skeptical Senate committee, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus outlines strategy for taming Islamic violence in Baghdad | Jamie Dean

When Lt. Gen. David Petraeus faced a Senate Armed Services committee stacked with anti-war legislators on the first day of confirmation hearings, the three-star general was blunt: "The situation in Iraq is dire. The way ahead will be very hard. But hard is not hopeless."

"Hard is not hopeless" was a chord President Bush struck in his State of the Union address later that evening. "The rite of custom brings us together at a defining hour—when decisions are hard and courage is needed," the president told lawmakers. "This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk."