Petraeus' report will be written by the White House?!?!?
After all the BS hyping of "commanders on the ground" you would think this might merit more than being buried in the 29th paragraph.
Isn't that a headline on its own?
(The broader article predicts that the WHITE HOUSE WRITTEN REPORT, will try to meet the spring drawdown required by rotation problems by "removing American troops soon from several areas where commanders believe security has improved, possibly including Al Anbar province."
Sounds like a "mission accomplished" to me. I'm sure the Shia government will be ecstatic at a safe haven for the Sunni insurgency.)
Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.
Isn't that a headline on its own?
(The broader article predicts that the WHITE HOUSE WRITTEN REPORT, will try to meet the spring drawdown required by rotation problems by "removing American troops soon from several areas where commanders believe security has improved, possibly including Al Anbar province."
Sounds like a "mission accomplished" to me. I'm sure the Shia government will be ecstatic at a safe haven for the Sunni insurgency.)
posted by mikevotes at
7:37 AM
6 Comments:
The meme has already spread through the media that the surge is working and the Petraeus and Crocker reports will be good. Here's Joe Johns, sitting in for The Beard on Late Edition last Sunday:
"Good news we're hearing is going to come out of Iraq. General Petraeus expected to announce military progress. The surge perhaps is working a bit better than many Democrats might have given the administration and the Pentagon credit for."
That's an actual quote. And I have heard other remarks like this from the usual suspects on cable and the Sunday shows. Dunno if carnage like yesterday's will help mitigate the propaganda, but I suspect not. Instead, the media will report how the Petraeus and Crocker reports - written by the WH - are showing "progress."
BTW, how did Joe Johns, the dumbest motherfucker on CNN (and given the quality of CNN personnel, that's saying something), get a job working with words. Did you see the dumb sonuvabitch's syntax?
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 8:50 AM
It's all a matter of picking your statistics, because by a few very specific measures, things have gotten marginally better if you pick the right time frames.
My bottom line argument is that none of that discussion matters at all because it focuses on US installed security rather than the actual politics and war of Iraq.
Even if we hit perfect security for 6 months, so long as the Iraqi factions want to fight, it doesn't matter.
Despite our conceit, this war and the fate of Iraq is up to the Iraqis, and thus far, all sides seem more than willing to fight rather than compromise.
(Let me add that the "flattering" statistics are fairly selective, and I really doubt they'll hold up through the fall when violence generally spins back up.
Their use right now is just another stalling tactic. It's about dancing any way they can to Jan 2009 without accepting responsibility for the failure.)
By
mikevotes, at 1:22 PM
Things are quieter in Anbar because the Sunnis see an advantage in getting American help against the Shia. They still want their country. back.
By
Anonymous, at 1:28 PM
Right. No one ever talks about the fact that the Sunnis haven't stopped attacking the Shia.
They've just declared a truce with the US because they were tired of their fighters getting caught up in the Al Qaeda sweeps.
By
mikevotes, at 1:51 PM
"Petraeus' report will be written by the White House"
File this under "I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!"
Sorry. But did anyone really think it would be otherwise?
By
-epm, at 3:08 PM
Well, I'm surprised the pretense isn't being carried out.
They could certainly shuttle "drafts" back and forth and claim they were written by Petraeus and Crocker.
By
mikevotes, at 3:19 PM
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