Glenn Greenwald: How much credence should Gen. Petraeus' reports be given?

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/19/petraeus/

Thursday July 19, 2007 06:24 EST
How much credence should Gen. Petraeus' reports be given?
Glenn Greenwald
(updated below)

(updated again with 2003-2004 statements)

Gen. David Petraeus, who will descend down upon Washington in September and reveal once and for all whether we are winning in Iraq, gave a lengthy interview yesterday about the Great Progress we are making with the Surge. He chose as his interviewer the hard-hitting, non-partisan, and well-regarded war journalist, Hugh Hewitt, who wrote a book last year about how Republicans will dominate our government forever and one this year on the Towering Greatness of Mitt Romney.

The "interview" consisted of Hewitt making one adoring, pro-war statement after the next, masquerading as questions, with Petraeus eagerly agreeing and then "elaborating" with the standard White House talking points. There is obviously no need to "wait until September" to know what Gen. Petraeus is going to say. It's all right there in the very first "questions" and answers from the Hewitt interview:

HH: Welcome, General. You took over command of the multinational forces in February of this year, February 10. In the past five months, how have conditions in Iraq changed?

DP: Well, obviously, we have been surging our forces during that time. We have added five Army brigade combat teams, two Marine battalions, and a Marine expeditionary unit, and some enablers, as they're called. And over the last month, that surge of forces has turned into a surge of offensive operations.

And we have achieved what we believe is a reasonable degree of tactical momentum on the ground, gains against the principal near-term threat, al Qaeda-Iraq, and also gains against what is another near-term threat, and also potentially the long term threat, Shia militia extremists as well.

snip/

It sounds like the Surge sure is working, we are winning, Al Qaeda is on the run, The Terrorists are being killed, and Freedom is on the March. But while we are making progress, there is still work ahead to be done in order to achieve Victory, so we must stay longer.

Despite the Mandate Orthodoxy that Gen. Petraeus be treated as the Objective, Unassailably Credible Oracle for how we are doing in Iraq and whether we are winning, his track record of quite dubious claims over the last several years about the war strongly negates that view. It ought to go without saying that no military commander -- particularly in the midst of a disastrous four-year war -- is entitled to blind faith and to be placed above being questioned. It is not only proper, but critically necessary, to subject happy war claims from the military to great scrutiny.

more...

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Petraeus is afraid of real journalists? Then he's a pussy who has NO business...

...commanding our troops.

Another Bush toady-general. Great.:thumbsdown:

God SAVE our troops, because the butchers in charge could give a damn about them.:grr::grr::grr:

[leftofthedial]

2. zero

he's a tool

[NewJeffCT]

3. Let's look at the recent history of our leading generals

General Shinseki said we'd need 400-500,000 troops to secure the peace in Iraq. That goes against Bush & Rumsfeld's idea of a light footprint. Shinseki is SACKED

All the top generals oppose the radical escalation plan - two are sacked - until Petraeus steps up and is appointed the head of Iraq.

And, I'm pretty sure another general or two has been sacked along the way.

So, the way I look at it, if Petraeus values his career, he will say what Bush wants in September. Because, if he tells the truth, he'll likely be out of a job.

[Chipper Chat]

4. Bush speaks the word "Petraeus" with reverance.

As if the General is his 'Moses' who will descend from the mountain in September with two tablets containing the scoop on Iraq. Bush already knows the inscribed words: "We shalt stay in Iraq forever because of the holy oil. We shalt sacrifice the red blood of Murcan youth for the glory of the NeoCons. We shalt maketh Lord Bush our Dicktator. So let it be written."
Unfortunately a nation of sheep will 'so let it be done.'