Meanwhile, Bush's disingenuousness in saying "It is one thing to attack me — which is fine" is just staggering. For years, the man took the view that criticism of his policies amount to criticism of the idea of freedom, that to disagree with his Iraq policy was racist and unpatriotic, and all the rest. Eventually, years and years of fruitless, bungled, unnecessary warfare caused him to become so unpopular that this line of counterattack became unviable. Thus, he hit on the strategy of finding a well-regarded media-savvy general and, in essence, appointing him front man for administration. For months and months and months the administration indicated that to question its policy was to question the Great Man Petraeus. So, naturally, people came to criticize Petraeus. If he doesn't like seeing a politicized officer's corps, he shouldn't have been hiding behind the generals in the first place.
The Bush administration is like an infectious disease. Because of their relentless dishonesty and mind-numbing incompetence, Bush and his people lost all their credibility. As a result, they set up Gen. Petraeus as the spokesperson for their failed war in Iraq. But in the process, the Bush people managed to infect Petraeus with their brand of dishonesty (not that he was unwilling) and destroy his credibility just as surely as they destroyed their own.
MoveOn was right to claim that Gen. Petraeus betrayed our country with his convuluted testimony before Congress. But he's only a pawn in the larger betrayal engineered by his bosses in Washington.
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I am willing to bet that General Petraeus has more honesty and integrity in his pinky than you have in your entire body. The fact that you attack his honesty and integrity is a sad, pathetic ploy. But, at least you were honest enough to admit it up front. Kudos.
I was disappointed to see the verbiage of the MoveOn ad, but Yglesias's essay, which I had read earlier, is dead on. This AWOL bastard with no credibility of his own pins his administration on this general and then has the audacity to say criticizing the general is criticizing "the troops"? What a freakin' clown.
By the way, in case you didn't know, Professor, the scuttlebutt is that the term Betray-us originated in Iraq amongst the soldiers.
I choose to ignore JD and his demagoguery in this instance. Feel free to attack, JD, but you are so far from reality, I will choose not to bring up something you said about Wesley Clark in 2004 to show how far you are from the mainstream.
PS Professor, the latest CBS poll shows 54% want t firm withdraw date in the next 12 months; same as before the report. Only 33% in a Pew poll believe the Surge has helped, i.e. the same percentage as before. Patraeus changed the mind of Rep. Blair, some dolts in the press, and no one else on the Left, Center, or Right. Much ado about nothing
Moveon.org need not be ashamed of their ads. They are telling the truth, and people of integrity need to speak truth to power on this issue. People are dying. Petraeus did betray our country. Pawn or not he chose to be the voice of the White House rather than a military leader who is interested in what is best for our troops and our credibility as a nation.
I like that Ric, "The Bush administration is like an infectious disease. Because of their relentless dishonesty and mind-numbing incompetence, Bush and his people lost all their credibility." I certainly could not have phrased it better. I often wonder what color the sky is in their world.
The administration organized Petraeus's testimony in some sort of desperate attempt to to win over the hearts of Americans by putting a once-respected general out there, just as they put the once-respected Colin Powell out there when they sent him to the U.N. to convince the world that in the buildings to which he pointed weapons of mass destruction were being manufactured. Colin Powell has said since that time, it was perhaps the worst thing that he could have done in his career. It ruined him.
People respect generals, and righfully so. Petraeus deserved that respect until he got involved in the lies and the politics of this war. Now he is an instrument of politics. This negates his long history of sacrifice for his country. What a waste. No matter what the General or his bosses in the White House say,facts are facts. Up is not down, the earth is not flat, and the surge is not working. Rather than speak factually about the lack of progress and the rising death toll in Iraq, Petraeus chose to carry water for the President who appointed him.
Despite the administration’s efforts to frame it as a issue of ‘victory’ and ‘defeat,’ the fact remains that the redeployment of US troops from Iraq is vital to restoring our national security, our efforts to fight international terrorism, and putting us on a path toward a foreign policy that provides real solutions for global peace and security.
I watched a good deal of Petraeus's testimony on C-SPAN and I read a transcript of the whole thing. He answered many questions and he made many assertions but he left some things out.
He didn't mention the fact that we are at greater risk now than we were before Mr. Bush got his war.
He ignored the fact that this President and this war has unsettled the entire Middle East.
He ommitted the fact that since we've been there, not only have we created a civil war and all of the sectarian violence, we have also pulled Iran into this war. He failed to mention that Syria is being drawn into this war.
He was unwilling to acknowledge that the entire Middle East is unsettled because of Mr. Bush's war and occupation.
He said nothing of what we already know, Iraqis want us to end the occupation. The Iraqi government passed a resolution to that effect.
Undeniably, we have some responsibilities in Iraq. We are responsible for tearing the country apart and we should assist in rebuilding efforts, but first, we must begin the process of getting our soldiers out of there.
What really infuriates me are the President's claims of progress in Iraq. These claims run contrary to multiple independent reports recently published, including, from the Government Accountability Office, General Jones, and the National Intelligence Estimate. These reports indicate continued high levels of violence, a dysfunctional Iraqi government, and sectarian influence that continue to plague the Iraqi security forces.
The Bush/Cheney vision of an enduring relationship with Iraq amounts to an endless and unlimited military occupation. This means the continuation of a failed, dangerous policy in Iraq.
Meanwhile, we continue to train and equip Iraqi security forces and so-called volunteer Sunni sectarian militias across Iraq.(http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/18/iraq-weapons/) This is insanity. We are training different sides of a violent civil war for which we are responsible.
At the cost of precious American lives, the President seeks only to disguise the fact that he has no exit strategy for Iraq. It becomes increasingly clear that George Bush seeks only to protect his own legacy and saddle Hillary, or Barak, or John with the mess he's created in the Middle East.
Let us not forget that, in addition to almost 3,800 troops who have died, 800 of those troops who have died in Iraq have died since the surge was announced in January, including 16 troops since General Petraeus came to Congress to testify just last week.
Democrats are castigated in the news for "attacking" General Petraeus. It is not an "attack." All anyone wanted from General Petraeus was the truth about what has been happening. He refused to give us the truth.
All the talk about military progress in Iraq, especially in the wake of the President’s speech last week only serves as a distraction from the plain and obvious fact that there is no military solution to the situation in Iraq. Military action was responsible for the situation in Iraq as it exists today. What twisted, moronic logic would make anyone take seriously the IDEA (for it is not a fact), that more military action will solve problems caused by unneccesary use of force there in the first place.
It has to stop. Congress should not provide another dime for the President’s failed policy. As I stated above, our lawmakers should provide the money necessary to fully fund the safe, timely and responsible redeployment of troops and contractors from Iraq.
(FOLLOWING IS A LINK AND THE TEXT OF AN ARTICLE ABOUT MOVEON.ORG):
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/why_we_cant_wait?tx=3
Why we can't wait
Submitted by Rick Perlstein on September 20, 2007 - 9:48am.
"On September 11, General David Petraeus betrayed his office and abdicated his duty when he let himself be ventriloquist's dummy for a disingenuous propaganda campaign designed to hold American troops hostage in Iraq and keep up the useless carnage indefinitely, exploiting cherry-picked or even invented statistics, under cover of the stars on his shoulder."
"I don't know how you can disagree with that at this point. But don't take my work for it. Take theirs:
• Chuck Hagel called his performance "a dirty trick on the American people... It's not only a dirty trick, but it's dishonest, it's hypocritical, it's dangerous and irresponsible."
• The chief of CentCom, Admiral William Fallon thinks
Petraus is "an ass-kissing little chickenshit" for the way he sucks up to politicians.
• This army wife points out: "General Petraeus is using normal circumstances and turning them into some big idea.... I don't understand how this can be called a troop reduction since Andy was alrady scheduled to to come home in November and was not scheduled to return to Iraq."
• This retired colonel says: "To preten that this plan is a product of some real-decision making by General Petraeus is appalling, and I'm sure the Marines in this is appalling, and I'm sure the Marines in this unit and their families are not happy about being used... It's deceitful and ultimately destructive to teh credibiltiy of the military and the Bush administration."
The people holding Petraeus to account, with language that reflects the task's manifest moral urgency, are truthtellers doing God's work. And now I learn this: conservative senators are ginning up an amendment to say that the people telling the truth about General Petraeus impugn "all members of the United States Armed Forces."
"Here's one of those truthtellers, in a letter to me late last night:
Friends,
Republican Senators are using the false claim that MoveOn called General Petraeus a traitor to whip up their base, and tonight they introduced an amendment in the Senate to condemn MoveOn. The resolution indicates that MoveOn's newspaper ad impugns "all members of the United States Armed Forces."
"This is McCarthyism reborn, and if they're successful in getting the Senate to condemn MoveOn, they'll be coming after the rest of the progressive movement next--it'll only embolden them. The amendment may come up for a vote tomorrow morning."
"And, they are doing this because we are relentlessly going after them in their home states. New polling shows big drops in their approval ratings, re-elect figures and GOP standing in trial heats."
"So, we're asking our friends in the movement to help fight back tonight or first thing tomorrow. Please urge senators you have a relationship with to vote "No" on the amendment to condemn MoveOn."
"Please reach out to your friends in the Senate and encourage them to help take the Cornyn amendment off the table. We expect Democrats to stand by their allies."
"The word among the supposedly right-thinking people in Washington is that, of course the Bush Administration is wrong on this, and on the merits, MoveOn is right—but that they shouldn't be so shrill about it. They shouldn't have used such blunt words."
"They're loud. They're rude. And this won't do. So maybe it's even OK to vote for this anti-MoveOn resolution—love the sinner, hate the sin!—to get our side back on the respectable path. They "hurt the anti-war movement's cause" more than they help it."
"I thought of this as I read a review in the Texas Observer about a new book on Maritn Luther King. The reviewer reminds us of all the Americans who believed King was right on the merits, but shouldn't be so shrill about it. Shouldn't have used such blunt words. He was loud. He was rude. He who "hurt the Negro cause" more than he helped it—in fact, Gallup did polls on this very question, and learned that "even liberal whites," as the book's author points out, "interpreted nonviolent protest as a prelude to violence, rather than its politically efficient alternative":
In June 1963, when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that King headed was in the midst of the Birmingham campaign that brought images of Bull Connor’s police dogs into Americans’ living rooms, 60 percent of all Americans thought the public demonstrations with which King was by then synonymous “hurt the Negro’s cause” more than they helped it. By May 1964, that percentage had risen to 74 percent. By October 1966, following the SCLC’s nonviolent direct actions in Selma and Chicago, it reached 85 percent."
"Let's start using proper words: what Petraeus did, what President Bush ordered Petraeus to do, was evil. A Democrat—and, yes, a Republican—who votes to censure MoveOn will be no better than one who voted to censure Martin Luther King. What we're up to here is a crusade to save the country from mountebanks and blackguards. It's not a schoolhouse sing. Only strong words will work. Only strong words are effective."
copy and paste
Speak Truthiness to Power !
The administration organized Petraeus's testimony...
BBZZZZZTTTTTTTTT. Wrong. Try again. Congress mandated it.
Has some sack. If you believe he is a traitor, call him one. Don't hide behind moveon's BS. They accuse him of doing traitorous things, but not being a traitor. I would love to hear an explanation of that one, todd.
You accuse the General of taking a knowing position that the efforts are futile, and as such, he is sending our troops to die for a fight that cannot be won, in your opinion. Clearly, he made 4-Star by making these kinds of decisions.
What you folks know about people in the military would not fill up a shot glass.
OK....
cutnpaste, I'm here or you, buddy.
With no preview, this is exactly the sort of comment where you mess up and earn some laughs, so I reluctantly hit the submit button.....
whew
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