"LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL"

I was wondering where that phrase came from and a little Googling led me to this:

In November, as their plans gelled, General Westmoreland embarked on a whirlwind tour of the U.S. to testify before Congress and drum up support for the Johnson Administration. "With 1968," he said, speaking before the National Press Club in Washington, "a new phase is starting .. we have reached an important point where the end begins to come into view." In a televised news conference, he used the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" to describe improved U.S. fortunes, repeating almost word- for-word a prognostication made by French General Henri Navarre in May of 1953.

This PR campaign began just a few months before the Tet Offensive and had no lasting effect:



I brought this up because Petraeus used the phrase:

BAYH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you, gentlemen, for your patience and your testimony here today, and, most of all, for your service to our country.

We may have some differences of opinion about the way forward in Iraq, but none of us question your service to our country or the candor of your testimony today. So I'm grateful to you for that.

I have the privilege of serving on the Intelligence Committee as well as the Armed Service Committee. And I'm struck, in reading the most recent national intelligence estimate, which we can't discuss here in detail today, but both reading that and listening to your testimony here today and listening to some of the dialogue about how all of this is subject to differing interpretations.

And I would just ask you the question, isn't it true that a fair amount of humility is in order in rendering judgments about the way forward in Iraq, that no one can speak with great confidence about what is likely to occur? Is that a fair observation?

PETRAEUS: It is very fair, Senator, and it's why I repeatedly noted that we haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel. The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and is reversible.