Keeping Petraeus under wraps

[babylonsister]

Keeping Petraeus under wraps
Posted August 16th, 2007 at 9:00 am



For weeks, all the talk out of the White House has been focused on Gen. David Petraeus’ report on conditions in Iraq. Petraeus will tell us everything we need to know; his report should be accepted as gospel; he is to Grant as Bush is to Lincoln.

Except the narrative is hitting a few speed bumps. Yesterday, the LAT reported that Petraeus isn’t even going to write his own report — the unbiased and independent thinkers at the Bush White House will take care of the report for him. And today, the WaPo reports that Petraeus, far from proudly presenting the report he won’t write, will actually be shielded from public view and scrutiny.

Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration’s progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense.

The skirmishing is an indication of the rising anxiety on all sides in the remaining few weeks before the presentation of what is widely considered a make-or-break assessment of Bush’s war strategy, and one that will come amid rising calls for a drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq…. Lawmakers from both parties are growing worried that the report — far from clarifying the United States’ future in Iraq — will only harden the political battle lines around the war.

Apparently, the White House plan has been to have the president’s team write Petraeus’ report, and then have Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates provide the only public testimony. Congressional leaders, not surprisingly, have balked at the proposal.

Nevertheless, the entire strategy of keeping Petraeus hidden is bizarre.

The WaPo noted that there’s “rising anxiety on all sides,” but that seems overstated. The anxiety is evident in the White House, not Congress, since it’s the Bush gang who’s talking about hiding Petraeus.

more...

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/12557.html#more-12557

[Done]

1. Could it be that Petraeus is having difficulty...

saying what they tell him to say? :shrug:

[babylonsister]

2. It does make you wonder, doesn't it, though I find that hard to believe.

I don't think he would have been hired if that was a problem. And if he's allowing people to put words in his mouth without a fight, that doesn't bode well either. We shall see.

[Philosoraptor]

3. The biggest build up ever for the biggest let down in history.

[Horse with no Name]

7. You forgot about Al Capone's vault

:eyes:

[spanone]

4. The Fix is In. Please wake up the Congress, you're about to be had.....again.

[Felix Mala]

5. Moving the goaline once again and * takes his 84th mulligan as "war prez"

[leftchick]

6. only his 84th?

:(