LIVE THREAD: Gen. Petraeus Before Congress

Fox News ^ | 9/10/07 | Live

[CaptRon]

Gen. Petraeus' report to Congress

[Danae]

Its the ONLY way to do business honestly in DC. the only secret is one known to only one, if more than one in DC knows it, then bet your A** that at least 30 more will know it in less than 20 min.

I cheer their choice NOT to release the testimony until AFTER it was delivered. No pre-spin for you Dimocrats! LOL What spin there was made them look like fools.

[Cailleach]

LOL I thought when someone says “in short” that the speech was coming to a close...but he said “in short” a long time ago.

But, he is talking about good things that have happened in Iraq.

[sageb1]

Agree. What Crocker is talking about is the political and economic gains, which is actually the most important thing.

[agere_contra]

he underwent five hours of surgery by Bill Frist, who a decade later became Senate majority leader.

Fascinating tidbit!

[Red_Devil 232]

I hope he has a Col. North moment!

[enough_idiocy]

The General’s Slides....

http://www.politico.com/pdf/PPM43_general_petraeus_testimony_slides10_september_2007.pdf

[TornadoAlley3]

Dems are not listening, they came with their talking points and will use them anyway.

[syriacus]

Actually, I like Crocker

I do, too. He is taking his time to present the facts. Folks in the room are being paid good money to listen.

[Yardstick]

I wish I could see this. The Dems have been banking on a gloomy political report to offset the security successes. Sound like Crocker’s not giving them what they had hoped for.

[RedRover]

In case you want to read along.

[tcrlaf]

“Four anti-war protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct.”

LEt’s change this with a bit of Democrat-style hyperbole to make it sound better...

“Four ANTI-TRUTH protestors were arrested....”

[kabar]

The Crocker testimony is the one the Dems are most concerned about. They knew what Petraeus was going to say and it is the easiest to combat. They can say that no matter how successful the military side might be, it is the diplomatic/political side that needs to be won. Crocker has said that he believes we can meet those objectives. That is big news.

[Lil'freeper]

LOL I thought when someone says “in short” that the speech was coming to a close...but he said “in short” a long time ago.

I think it just means "I'm sparing you from a long tangent" which, I suppose, is a vey good thing. Could be some of the details he's skipping over are sensitive in nature.

[hsalaw]

Crocker is putting me to sleep though. Not as stirring a the General.

He caught my attention when he started out comparing the nascent government in Iraq to the early United States, and then basically said that after 40 years of Saddam Hussein, they had no natural leaders. He also mentioned how they've started distributing oil income, etc. even without the legislation, which is a nice slap at the dems who claim their legislature isn't doing anything. (Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, there.)

[penelopesire]

YIPPIE!! Thanks for the link!!

[angcat]

Rush called code pink “ugly fat women”. LOL

[dbacks]

[5 CODE pinke arrested for their outbursts.]
What ya want to bet they WERE NOT ARRESTED, just booted.

[Danae]

Absolutely, it is ESSENTIAL to the rebuilding of Iraq, in not in actual econimic gains, it leads to support and BELIEF in teh givernment of Iraq! The people themselves have to believe in it to support it, and the Government must have the support of its people in order to continue to better the lives of those people. Its all laid out in the Counter Insurgency handbooks that the Military makes againable to the Soldiers on the ground, and is a LARGE part of what the surge is all about. Its all apart of the same foundation, and it all has to be built from the ground up. It is a testament to our Miliatary forces who are making all of that possible, a testament to the Iraqi People who are standing up, and by and large taking the hits, that are now making all the rest possible.

Cheers to each and every one of them!

[Enchante]

"Crocker made a nice point about the slow pace of political change being a function of an absence of leaders - those with the leadership skills and potential were eliminated under Saddam."

That's something I've thought about many times these past 4 years -- we are all frustrated with the lack of leadership within Iraqi society and government, but anyone with real potential was eliminated by Saddam as a threat long ago. It does take time to develop a new political leadership class of competent people.... and when one looks at our DEMAGOGUES and RINOs trying to botch the War in Iraq and the GWOT (that some of them think is just a "bumper sticker) then you have to realize that even with 200+ years of practice it is not always possible for the USA to have competent and effective leadership!!!!!!

[kabar]

I don’t care if they are listening or not. They are going to go after Crocker because what he is saying is far more damaging to them than the Petraeus report.