Posted on 08/20/2007 11:52:40 AM PDT by Dan Calabrese
We are still a month away from General David Petraeus' report to Congress on progress in Iraq, and Democrats are already trashing its credibility, before it has even been given. From Speaker Nancy Pelosi accusing the White House of hiding behind Petraeus to a Washington Post column calling it "a White House con job in the making," the left is doing its usual adept job of spewing treasonous rhetoric over things that only exist in their Bush-hating conspiracy-riddled minds.
(Excerpt) Read more at northstarwriters.com ...
Americans doubt ‘General Betraeus’ over troop surge
The Times ^ | 8/19/2007 | Sarah Baxter
Posted on 08/18/2007 9:41:34 PM EDT by pacelvi
Americans doubt ‘General Betraeus’ over troop surge
General David Petraeus is facing a backlash ahead of his report to Congress on the progress of America's troop surge
Sarah Baxter
AFTER being hailed as King David, the potential saviour of Iraq, the US commander General David Petraeus is facing a backlash in advance of his report to Congress in September on the progress of America’s troop surge.
Critics, including one recently retired general, are privately calling him “General Betraeus” on the grounds that he is too ambitious to deliver a balanced report on the war.
Lawrence Korb, a defence official under Ronald Reagan who is now at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank, said Petraeus was regarded as “the most political general since General [Douglas] Mac-Arthur”, a reference to the second world war hero who was touted as a possible president.
Opponents of the troop surge believe that President George W Bush has been hiding behind Petraeus’s reputation for too long. “The president says the surge is the ‘Petraeus’ strategy. Petraeus should say, ‘No, I work for the president. This is his strategy’,” said Korb. “He is very ambitious and there’s nothing wrong with that, but his ambition may be used in an inappropriate way.”
Petraeus, who studied at Princeton and co-wrote the US army’s new counter-insurgency doctrine, is widely regarded as one of the brightest soldiers of his generation. He has an impressive grasp of military history - including British operations against 1950s Malayan insurgents and in Northern Ireland during the Troubles - as well as the physical stamina, at 54, to go on regular 10-mile runs with his troops. Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star general, describes Petraeus as “brilliant”.
One senior military source said Petraeus could be ambitious enough to move into politics one day. But the general would be looking for “bipartisan support” for his strategy in Iraq and was likely to give an accurate picture of progress on the ground.
Frederick Kagan, a military historian at the American Enterprise Institute and advocate of the surge, said Petraeus would deliver an honest assessment: “Even if it were true that he is too ambitious, and I don’t agree with that, if he makes some compromise that leads to failure in this conflict, that’s not in his interest at all.” According to a poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corp on Friday, 53% of Americans believe the report will try to make the situation in Iraq sound more favourable than it is. Only 43% said they trusted the US commander to give an objective picture.
Adding to suspicions, the report - based on recommendations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq - will be written by White House staff. But both men will testify in public before Congress.
The report is expected to highlight progress in Anbar province and only patchy success in restoring order to Baghdad.
Crocker is said to have almost given up trying to persuade Nouri Al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, to come to a political accommodation with the Sunnis and is concentrating his efforts on wooing tribal sheikhs.
Petraeus and his second-in-command, General Ray Odierno, are seeking sufficient support to continue the surge until April. Odierno said last Friday that plans were under way to reduce troops to presurge levels by August 2008. By then the US presidential election will be only three months away and the White House is hoping to take some of the political sting out of the war.
RATS will never “grow up”, it’s what defines them as RATS. If they had the intelligence or honesty of the average adult, they wouldn’t be RATS. Instead, they choose to prove their “cleverness” to each other by their lies and denial. Harry reid denouncing Petraeus’ report before it’s even delivered is judt another example.
“If the report is positive, are Democrats going to stand in a corner with their arms folded and hold their collective breath until they turn blue?”
lol
Where would we find Dims’ quotes from back when the idea of the September report was first announced?
Should make an interesting contrast to what they’re saying now.
The next step in descrediting the “Petraeus Report” is to raise the expectation bar so high that the General would have to report that his troops have brought on world peace, the cure for cancer, and a way for the US to win international baskteball tournaments.
Here’s the thing, there are Democrats on record saying the surge is producing some results, Hillary included among them. The Democrats therefore can’t say the Bush admin and the General are lying....oooops, wait, I forgot. Bush “lied” about WMDs even though Dems said the same thing from 1998-2003.
“Democratic think tank . . .”
Now there’s an oxymoron.
For the last two generations (since Vietnam)---they have prided themselves by undermining our military's efforts,,,,and giving encouragement and 'aid-and-comfort' to our enemies (especially during time of war).
It comes naturally, takes no special effort on their part.
IT'S JUST WHAT THEY DO!
Why wait until he has actually filed his report? This Congress is outraged!
How can it be a backlash when it hasn't yet been delivered? Doesn't that fact make it a frontlash, or a forelash?
IOW, the Left's pathological hatred of GWB and all things Republican is being more openly displayed every day. They're quickly giving up any pretense of fairness or objectivity.
Bill O’Reilly, on his radio broadcast today, indicated that the only thing that would give the GOP a win in November of ‘08 would be something like another 9-11.
If the economy tanks in the next year, says Billy O., Hillary Clinton will be our next president.
I must say that I agree with him on both points. I’ve said the same things myself. I hope I’m wrong. Someone make me feel better; prove me wrong.
“If the report is positive, are Democrats going to stand in a corner with their arms folded and hold their collective breath until they turn blue?”
In a manner of speaking, yes.
Because progress has being made in Iraq, the Dems have to do something to cover up/justify their claim that the war is lost. So what do they do? Discredit the progress report before it even comes out. Very mature. /s
However, that being said, a few Dems have seen the light and admitted that progress IS being made (Levin among them, can you believe it?). I guess they would rather just face the truth than create more lies to disguise their screw-up. Of course, those were the ones that have actually been to Iraq and not stayed in Washington yakking away for all this time.
For some unknown reason, I always think of a white porcelain toilet when I see that term.
“can the democrats please grow up?”
if the democrats grew up, they wouldn’t be democrats.
(and who knows what they would be.)
The Democrat strategy is very very clever. They are already positioning themselves to say that it was their influence that caused Bush to send in Petraeus to correct his administration's mistakes, which of course the Democrats had so kindly pointed out in the first place.
....."We made Bush change his plans ....and now that this wonderful Petraeus has responded so well to our demands, we can pull out the troops with honor."
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