So much for the much-anticipated "Petraeus" report

[erik_kosberg]

It's going to be written at the White House.

[drmomentum[$]]

That does rather undercut arguments that criticism needs to wait for this report.

Why didn't they think of this earlier? They could have written the Baker Commission Report, too.

-JP (Imagines that they learned their lesson that independent reports never favor you when your plans aren't working)

[erik_kosberg]

Let the smoke and mirrors bamboozlement begin!

[erik_kosberg]

Keeping Petraeus under wraps

Something to keep in mind. The White House won’t allow the report to be interpreted as completely bad news, Petraeus will accentuate the positive, and the media will say the report is a “mixed bag.” Given that previous indications have shown abject disaster, this will inevitably be spun as a major step forward.

Well, I'll say one thing for Team Bush -- they're really good at staging Kabuki theater.

[Stokes Pennwalt]

This is stupid even for the White House. People have a generally favorable opinion of Petraeus. It makes no sense that they would not even try to capitalize on the credibility he brings by letting him write it. Instead they are going to preemptively destroy the credibility of the report by writing it themselves. Usually a way can be found to rationalize these things but this makes literally no sense at all.

It looks like Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will testify before Congress after all, though:

The legislation says that Petraeus and Crocker "will be made available to testify in open and closed sessions before the relevant committees of the Congress" before the delivery of the report. It also clearly states that the president "will prepare the report and submit the report to Congress" after consultation with the secretaries of state and defense and with the top U.S. military commander in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador.

An Early Clash Over Iraq Report - washingtonpost.com

[erik_kosberg]

Bush Administration Pushed For Private Briefings For Petraeus, Dems Confirm | TPMCafe

Amid a bitter skirmish between the White House and Dems yesterday over whether General Petraeus will testify publicly to Congress about Iraq, the Bush administration repeatedly claimed yesterday that the administration had never pushed for closed-door-only briefings for Petraeus.

But that claim is false, according to an on-the-record statement we've obtained from the office of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

If you're going to be a liar, at least try to be a good liar.

[drmomentum[$]]

No, if we've learned anything from the last 7 years, just lie big.

[Stokes Pennwalt]

Apparently the reason the White House is writing the report is because the law requires it:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-...206enr.txt.pdf

(B) The President shall submit reports to Congress
on how the sovereign Government of Iraq is, or is not,
achieving progress towards accomplishing the aforementioned
benchmarks, and shall advise the Congress on how
that assessment requires, or does not require, changes
to the strategy announced on January 10, 2007.
(2) REPORTS REQUIRED.—
(A) The President shall submit an initial report, in
classified and unclassified format, to the Congress, not
later than July 15, 2007, assessing the status of each
of the specific benchmarks established above, and declaring,
in his judgment, whether satisfactory progress toward
meeting these benchmarks is, or is not, being achieved.
(B) The President, having consulted with the Secretary
of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Commander, Multi-
National Forces-Iraq, the United States Ambassador to
Iraq, and the Commander of U.S. Central Command, will
prepare the report and submit the report to Congress.
(C) If the President’s assessment of any of the specific
benchmarks established above is unsatisfactory, the President
shall include in that report a description of such
revisions to the political, economic, regional, and military
components of the strategy, as announced by the President
on January 10, 2007. In addition, the President shall
include in the report, the advisability of implementing such
aspects of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, as he deems
appropriate.
(D) The President shall submit a second report to
the Congress, not later than September 15, 2007, following
the same procedures and criteria outlined above.

Now this makes me think that calling it "the Petraeus report" is a tactic to give their report more credibility by conflating it with his Congressional testimony, which is misleading as hell.

[erik_kosberg]

Anybody know if the Senate testimony was under oath? Apparently, the House testimony wasn't. Hmmmmm....

[rmthunter]

Stokes Pennwalt said

This is stupid even for the White House. People have a generally favorable opinion of Petraeus. It makes no sense that they would not even try to capitalize on the credibility he brings by letting him write it.

Actually, the favorable opinion of Petraeus is not by any means universal. Apparently Adm. William Fallon, head of CENTCOM, is not a fan.

Fallon told Petraeus [in March] that he considered him to be “an ass-kissing little chickensh*t” and added, “I hate people like that”, the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior.

From other sources, I've read that Petraeus has a reputation as an ambitious yes-man who paints an overly rosy picture of his own accomplishments. (Of course, if he weren't a yes-man, it's debatable whether he would still be in command of anything.)

Posting after the testimony, although I haven't been able to read a transcript, from the sometimes extensive quotes I've seen, it appears that Petraeus' habits are holding true. And also that the figures have been "interpreted" rather favorably.

So, my question is, if the surge is going to enable us in eight months to get back to where we were eight months ago, how is this progress?

[drmomentum[$]]

Petraeus' report on the progress of Britney Spears' career:

Petraeus on Britney - Los Angeles Times

The recent performance at the MTV Video Music Awards vastly exceeded initial projections of awesomeness. Not only did the few dancing moves she executed get her heart rate up to 145 -- prime fat-burning range -- but Ms. Spears did not fall or cry. Though the time lapse between recorded music and lip sync was off by an average of 2.5 seconds, this was a vast improvement over the House of Blues tour, where the average was actually forever, because she didn't know the words to her new song. Though she still hasn't memorized the lyrics -- which, for the record, are "gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme" -- she now mouths other words in its place, some of which clearly do involve giving her things.

[Stokes Pennwalt]

rmhunter said

From other sources, I've read that Petraeus has a reputation as an ambitious yes-man who paints an overly rosy picture of his own accomplishments.

Sure. The senior Army leaders we have today are the ones who slipped through the officer purges of the early 1990s at the height of the zero-defect mentality in the DoD. They survived by kissing ass, licking boots, and inflating their self image enough not to have their commands deactivated, or at least be moved on to a new one when they were. Also, it is pretty well documented that if you weren't part of the small percentage of the Army who participated in Desert Storm, you were out on your ass. It was bad in the other services too, but the Army got the RIFfed worst.

Petraeus's actions speak louder than words. He has credibility with people who have studied his work in Iraq. For the past two or three years he has commented on how the Army does not know how to fight a counterinsurgency and that the only lessons learned from Vietnam was to avoid that type of conflict or approach it with overwhelming force. More importantly, he was the first in Iraq to advocate the "Clear. Hold. Build." process of dealing with hot spots, which is what made Tal Afar liveable way back when. That and because Col. McMaster, who was one of the few unit commanders to have significant success early into the reconstruction because of his counterinsurgency approach, is on his dream team of advisors.

[erik_kosberg]

"One Of Petraeus' Own Advisers Says General's Testimony On Iraq Was Misleading"

Gosh, you don't say.