What a dog and pony show Gen. David Petraeus put on in front of Congress on Monday! His sleight of hand was very neat indeed.
During his rosy report of how nice things are in Iraq — he made me want to vacation there — he even referred to the possibility of drawing down our troop levels in the near future. Everything sounded great until you read published reports and then really listened to what he said.
A General Accounting Office report issued on Sept. 4 stated: “While the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, it is unclear whether violence has been reduced. Measuring such violence may be difficult since the perpetrators’ intents are not clearly known. Other measures, such as the number of enemy-initiated attacks, show that violence has remained high through July 2007.�
Since there have been no reports of a cessation or downturn in violence since this time, we have to assume that the level remains the same despite the “surge.�
As for the so-called drawdown of troops, all that means is that those sent over during this “surge� will be brought home with no real reduction in troop levels.
I am tired of the truth and the country being manipulated this way by President Bush and his cronies. It is time for all of them to go — immediately.
If you prefer to believe everything they are saying, that is up to you, but the manipulation factor cannot be denied. Why couldn’t this report have been given last week or even next week? Answer: That would not have been the day before 9/11.
— John Darling, Ventura
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