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I saw plenty of progress.
In Iraq, I saw an environmental disaster caused by Saddams having dammed up a river to create a pretty lake completely reversed. I saw water restored to a place that had been dried out and dead. I saw Shia poeple who had been denied any sort of human dignity under that regime given the opportunity to go to school, to receive health care and hold positions in a democratically elected government. I saw sewage treatment facilities which hadn't functioned for 20 years begin cleaning the water again.
In Afghanistan, I saw girls go to school. I saw the first class of female nurses graduate in Kandahar City in more than 10 years. I saw the first working stoplight go in. I know that 50% of women now see a health professional at some point in their pregnancy when only 5% had before we went there. I drove on the ring road - you can go from Kandahar to Kabul in 8 hours now - before it took 3 days or more.
I also heard every October - everyone stays put until congress approves more funding - and sat on my hands for a month or more, watching while people needed our help.
Every soldier knows these things take time - look at Bosnia, or has everyone forgotten? It took 10 years to get that country straight, and they were in better shape than Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no quick fix.
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