Surge Succeeds

News from folks fighting over there is "the hunting is good".

I saw that article in the NYTimes. Apparently they are so desperate for sources they have to cross the pond to find anyone willing to talk to them. News from folks fighting over there is "the hunting is good".

I saw that article in the NYTimes. Apparently they are so desperate for sources they have to cross the pond to find anyone willing to talk to them. News from folks fighting over there is "the hunting is good".

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. (Applause.)

Bush touts surge progress in weekly address
By Andy Barr
August 11, 2007
President Bush told the nation Saturday that progress is being made in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The surge in Iraq, Bush said in his weekly radio address, "is seizing the initiative from the enemy and handing it to the Iraqi people." One positive aspect of the initiative, the president stated, is that more Iraqis are coming forward to U.S. troops with intelligence on terrorists hiding within the population.

Top general may propose pullbacks
Petraeus is expected to tell Congress that Iraqis can assume duties in some areas, freeing U.S. troops for other uses.
By Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
August 15, 2007

WASHINGTON -- --
Intent on demonstrating progress in Iraq, the top U.S. general there is expected by Bush administration officials to recommend removing American troops soon from several areas where commanders believe security has improved, possibly including Al Anbar province.

According to the officials, Gen. David H. Petraeus is expected to propose the partial pullback in his September status report to Congress, when both the war's critics and supporters plan to reassess its course. Administration officials who support the current troop levels hope Petraeus' recommendations will persuade Congress to reject pressure for a major U.S. withdrawal.

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.

None of what's actually going on in Iraq matters, because...

LaTimes

Quote:

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.

The Bush WH will be presenting a report with Petraeus' name on it. It will be nothing more then a PR document, with little to no relation to reality.

This was predictable, and predicted, by me long ago.

Cycloptichorn

The senior administration official said the process had created "uncomfortable positions" for the White House because of debates over what constitutes "satisfactory progress."

During internal White House discussion of a July interim report, some officials urged the administration to claim progress in policy areas such as legislation to divvy up Iraq's oil revenue, even though no final agreement had been reached. Others argued that such assertions would be disingenuous.

He concurred with some of the recent comments of American leaders in Iraq, that a sort-of 'Mini-Tet' offensive by insurgents would be no surprise in advance of the September 15 deadline. (It may already have begun.) He said that the insurgency has demonstrated an understanding of the U.S. media, which tends to 'inflate the day's activities and overcome the successes.' He said that it behooves U.S. officials to think things through carefully.

''We know that the surge has to come to an end. There's no question about that. I think everyone understands that by about a year or so from now we've got to be a good bit smaller than we are right now.

What is the White House hiding?
That September report from Gen. David Petraeus? The one that he won't actually be writing? If the White House has its way, he won't be talking about it either, at least not in public.

As we noted yesterday, Bush administration officials have told the Los Angeles Times that the White House, not Petraeus, will be writing the Petraeus report on Iraq. Now senior congressional aides are telling the Washington Post that the White House wants Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to present the report to Congress. Under a White House proposal, Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker -- long billed as the authors of the September assessment -- would discuss the report only in private.

As the Post reports, the White House proposal may be coming as a surprise to Petraeus and Crocker, who have said before that they expect to testify before Congress after giving Bush their assessments from Iraq. The Post's Jonathan Weisman and Karen DeYoung write: "U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Baghdad appeared puzzled yesterday when told that the White House had indicated that the two may not be appearing in public."

We'll admit to being a little puzzled, too. When it comes to asking for more time for the "surge," Petraeus, who is treated with something like reverence by most members of Congress, is probably the best spokesman the administration has, if only because he hasn't been around long enough to deliver as many false promises as Dick Cheney has or counsel patience as many times as Condoleezza Rice has. When Rice went up to the Hill to sell the surge in January, she came under attack from Republicans and Democrats alike, and she was reduced to sniping back.

So what does it tell us that the White House wouldn't want Petraeus writing his own report or describing his findings in public? From the outside looking in, it's hard not to conclude that the White House thinks it won't like what Petraeus would say if he were allowed to say it.