The verdict is in on General Petraeus’ testimony yesterday, and it is not hopeful. After seeing his charts and hearing his words, we have a preview of an American occupation in Iraq going on for years.
Nancy Pelosi’s comment:
Last November, the American people voted for a New Direction in Iraq, but the President chose instead to escalate the war by reverting to a `surge’ strategy that had failed four times before. The President promised the American people that this surge would be a short-term effort to provide space for political reform and national reconciliation in Iraq. Today, despite overwhelming evidence that neither goal has been achieved, General Petraeus testified that the surge would last at least until next summer. This is simply unacceptable…
Indeed, not only is there a removal of ONLY the surge-added troops, but that doesn’t completely happen until the summer of 2008… so much for short-term.
In reality, Petraeus gave us nothing to hope for. Plus, the facts he presented were fuzzy at best. AmericaBlog did a pretty good job of blowing holes in the facts presented. Click here and see for yourself.
At the beginning of his testimony, Petraeus told us it was his alone and the Bush White House didn’t write it. But did you notice that Chairman Ike Skelton, in the confusion of microphones that were not working, neglected to swear Petraeus in? If he did, I didn’t see it. Did you?
Truth was not a big deal yesterday.
If you are celebrating the Anniversary of 9/11 by watching more Petraeus testimony on C-Span today, then keep your eye out for any changes in his material. But don’t expect it.
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