Top NATO commander says Iraq may never be peaceful

A top NATO commander said Tuesday that Iraq may never be free of violence.

"Will we see a day in Iraq when violence is completely gone away? I don't think so. It wasn't that way under Saddam," said US Air Force Gen. Lance L. Smith, supreme allied commander transformation.

"It's going to be rough. Success will be measured on a political scale," he said.

Smith, who spoke to reporters in Paris, said there has been plenty of success in both Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly in organizing and carrying through democratic elections.

"But it's in the hands of the Afghan and Iraqi people to take the opportunity they think they've been given," he said.

From the Jerusalem Post