Home / thinkprogress.org rss archive / September-09-2007


The chart Petraeus won’t show.
The AP reveals that a “briefing chart prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency says what Gen. David Petraeus won’t. Insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians, their security forces and U.S. troops remain high.” Most of the insurgent attacks in Iraq continue to be focused on U.S. forces, as the chart shows:

MoveOn stages actual ‘dog and pony show.’
During an appearance on Meet the Press in July with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. James Webb (D-VA) referred to politicians’ visits to Iraq as “dog-and-pony shows.” In an email to its members today, MoveOn writes, “Congress was fooled before by the White House’s ‘dog and pony show’ — we need to make sure they’re [...]

NY Post: ‘MoveOn’ Osama.
Yesterday, the New York Post published an editorial equating Osama bin Laden and his recent video tape with MoveOn.org: If Osama bin Laden ever gets tired of waging global jihad, perhaps he should interview for a job with MoveOn.org.He’d get one, judging from his latest videotape to the American people: The first in three years, [...]

Draper: Bush Doesn’t Follow An ‘Honest Line Of Questioning’ With Generals About Iraq
In his new biography of President Bush, GQ correspondent Robert Draper writes that Bush was never told bad news about Iraq. “The commanders and the troops never told him what was going wrong,” wrote Draper. “Just as the generals on the ground never once told the President during their regular video conferences, ‘Sir, we need [...]

Progress In Anbar Initiated Four Months Before Bush’s Escalation
The Bush administration is increasingly touting the reduced violence in the Anbar province as evidence that the President’s escalation policies are working. Last week, President Bush made a surprise visit to the region and used it to argue that the troop buildup should not be cut short: In Anbar you’re seeing firsthand the dramatic [...]

Asking the right question to Petraeus.
CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer said this morning that one of the lessons we learned from Vietnam “is that we were asking the wrong question” to our generals. “When we have to ask, are we winning? we’re probably losing. Victory is always obvious,” he said.Let me preempt that question to General Petraeus. We [...]

Petraeus Gives Exclusive One Hour Interview To Fox
Tomorrow night, after spending the day telling Congress that President Bush’s Iraq escalation should continue, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will take their PR campaign to a more comfortable setting: Fox News. On Fox News Sunday this morning, host Chris Wallace announced the interview:WALLACE: Now a special program note. Tomorrow night at 9:00 [...]

Kristol: ‘Sober, Serious’ People Want Over 100,000 Troops In Iraq When Bush Leaves Office
Tomorrow, Gen. David Petraeus will testify to Congress to provide his perspective on the escalation in Iraq. The Washington Post reports this morning that the White House political office has been coordinating with Petraeus for months to market Bush’s strategy to the public:Ed Gillespie, the new presidential counselor, organized daily conference calls at 7:45 a.m. [...]

‘Strolling’ around Baghdad as a Westerner is ’suicidal.’
In an interview with Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, Newsweek correspondent Babak Dehghanpisheh — who works in Baghdad — dismissed the rosy reports of congressional delegations that visit Iraq for brief periods of time. From the interview: DEHGHANPISHEH: You know, I don’t know of any Westerners who go strolling around the streets of Baghdad, [...]