Does anyone believe anything that General Petraeus said today is to be believed? It seemed to me, and unfortunately I actually watched it, that the general gave testimony that was exactly the same lines we have been hearing from the Bush administration for weeks, months, and years. Petraeus is now Bush’s top lap dog after previous commanders refused to paint a rosy picture of Bush’s bloody mistake. Regardless of who is delivery the lies, the only people that seem to believe there has been any progress in Iraq in years are those in the Bush Administration bubble.
From progress on the streets of Baghdad to troop morale, Petraeus painted a rather positive account of how things were progressing in Iraq. Contrary to reports from a multitude of organizations that see the the situation in Iraq as dire, Petraeus claims that the security situation has improved extensively in Baghdad and what appeared to be an impending civil war is no longer happening. This is all very hard to believe including his comments that troop morale was good. We have heard many many accounts from soldiers on the ground and those that have returned, that morale in Iraq is dismal. So where does Petraeus find good morale? Maybe in the protected Green Zone.
Today Petraeus echoed the President’s comments that the surge would need to continue and said it will need to be in place until at least July of 2008. It seems interesting to me that Bush and Petraeus believe we can start to withdraw troops right before the 2008 presidential election. Excellent timing don’t you think?
Apparently we are also now expected to accept another year of our soldiers being in a country where over 50% of the population believes attacks on them are okay. And why stay in Iraq? Well… because….. Iraq will be better for it and the oil companies will get rich. The entire world watches the nightmare in Iraq wondering why Bush still insists on sacrificing American lives after years of failure, and wondering why the American people let it happen.
The Democrats claimed that if the situation in Iraq had not changed dramatically, and the report from Petraeus and others on the ground was not significant, they would force the President to change policy So now they have Petraeus testimony and it is still a load of unsubstantiated nonsense. With most Americans wanting an end to the war and our troops brought home and the situation in Iraq continuing to decline in spite of Petraeus’ bogus progress report, the Democratic leadership must now confront Bush or face a backlash from those that gave them the power in 2006. Now is the time for the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate to force the president to end this nightmare.