GEN

Gen. Petraeus To Testify Before Congress Next Week

On the Sep. 15, Gen. David Petraeus will go before Congress to give his assessment on the Surge of troops in Iraq that President Bush announced back in January.

 

The reasoning Bush used for the Surge was to give the al-Maliki led government some breathing room from hostility to institute benchmarks demanded by Congress, most of which were laid out in the Iraq Study Group report from last November.

 

Progress on those benchmarks has been slow, real slow, and the August recess of the Iraqi parliament did not help the situation.

 

There are eighteen benchmarks that were to be used as a measure to show what progress the Surge has accomplished.

 

The General Accountability Office (GAO) a non-partisan investigative arm of Congress charged with examining matters relating to the receipt and payment of public funds, gave their report to Congress this week regarding the eighteen benchmarks and concluded that the Iraqi government has failed to meet 15 of the 18 benchmarks established by Congress in conjunction with the authorization of President Bush’s troop surge in January.

 

The report concluded that the Iraqi government has fully met only three of the legislative, security and economic benchmarks. The GAO concluded that four other benchmarks have been partially met, and the rest had not been met.

 

“Overall, key legislation has not been passed, violence remains high, and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion in reconstruction funds. These results do not diminish the courageous efforts of coalition forces,” the report said.

 

Only one of eight legislative benchmarks was met. The rights of minority political parties are protected. One other benchmark was partially met. Legislation was passed on the creation and implementation of regions. However, this law will not be enacted until 2008.

 

Iraqi security was one of the target goals Congress had asked for, and the report said, “Iraq’s government has established various committees in support of the Baghdad security plan and established almost all of the planned Joint Security Stations in Baghdad. The government has partially met the benchmarks of providing three trained and ready brigades for Baghdad operations and eliminating safe havens for outlawed groups.”

 

Other Iraqi security measures that were not met include:

·         Eliminating militia control of local security

·         Eliminating political interventions in military operations

·         Ensured evenhanded enforcement of the laws

·         Increasing the military’s ability to operate independently

 

The Iraqi government has allocated and spent $1.5 billion of the $10 billion they were given for reconstruction (this does not include the $9 Billion that has gone missing), which is the only economic benchmark that has partially been met.

 

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said of the GAO report, “The independent GAO report released today contrasts sharply with President Bush’s stay-the-course Iraq. The GAO report is the latest in a series of assessments to conclude that the Iraqi government has failed to meet nearly every political, economic and security benchmark laid out by President Bush himself in January.”

 

Well now you have a general idea of what the report said, I say general idea because the report is over 100 pages. But I think you have the major facts.

 

This brings us back to Sep. 15 and the report Petraeus will be giving to Congress. Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador for Iraq, will also be giving his assessments on the same date.

 

But what will be said, and whose words will be coming out of the general and the ambassadors mouth?

 

You would think that since these two have an extensive expertise on the subject, Petraeus and Crocker are running the show, so to speak, in Iraq. But that is not the case.

 

Last month the White House announced that the reports to be given by both Petraeus and Crocker will be written by White House personnel. That’s right, the White House will be writing the report that will be given to Congress and shown to the nation.

 

For months now, we have all been hearing how the White House responded to questions about Iraq the same way: let’s wait until September and see what Petraeus and Crocker have to say.

 

Hell, they have known for months what will be said because they are writing the reports that Petraeus and Crocker will be spewing, and all the while they have been lying to America and the entire world, like they have been doing since Bush started his folly into Iraq.

 

So when Petraeus and Crocker give their reports they both will be lacking any credibility. Their much-ballyhooed September report will have their names on it, but will have been written by who knows who in the Bush administration, which has lost all standing with the majority of the American people.   

 

This past Labor Day weekend President Bush made an impromptu visit to Iraq, while on his way to Australia, where he gave a speech and led the troops to believe that in the near future some troops might be able to come home.

 

Bush told the troops that any cut would depend on the security situation in Iraq. After Bush met with Petraeus and Crocker, Bush said “they tell me if the kind of success we are now seeing continues, it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces.”

 

Bush put emphasis on the word "if" and he didn't say how many troops could be withdrawn, or when.

 

But once Bush was back on Air Force One and on his way to Australia, he changed his tune while talking to reporters.

 

Bush said, “If you look at my comments over the past eight months, it’s gone from a security situation in the sense that we’re either going to get out and there will be chaos, or MORE troops,” he said. “Now the situation has changed where I’m able to speculate on the hypothetical.”

 

Lives are being lost every day, and he wants to speculate on the hypothetical. Sounds like more hogwash.

 

Bush said, “My message to Maliki is: ‘You’ve got a lot of work to do, and whatever decision is made in Washington D.C., is all aimed at helping you achieve what is necessary to get the work done.’”

 

Mr. President, the same goes for you too.

 

The White House wrote the report that Petraeus and Crocker will be giving on Sep. 15. How on earth, can anyone believe anything that the Bush administration says?

 

Bush said on several occasions that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be left up to the next president, and this is the only thing that he has ever said about this war that I believe.

 

David Phillips is a Vietnam Era Veteran, a Democratic Party Activist, and David is also the Publisher and Editor of the online political magazine YodasWorld.org

E-Mail Questions or Comments: oneyoda@aol.com