Petraeus Defends Iraq Testimony

Katie Couric Questions General On His Recommendation To Withdraw Some Troops

(CBS)  While members of Congress were scrambling to respond to Gen. David Petraeus's testimony, Katie Couric sat down with the general in Washington earlier today.

The general has spent nearly 16 hours over two days before four different Congressional committees, armed with charts and graphs, to bolster his claims that security in Iraq is improving. He said he welcomed the chance to respond to critics who have accused him of cherry picking and twisting the facts.

Couric: So your response to charges that you all are manipulating data is what?

Petraeus: We have consistently measured, we haven't changed. If anything, we believe that we have more data because our forces live in the neighborhoods to a much greater extent than they did in the past and have more information as a result of that.

Couric: You got an earful yesterday from many members of the U.S. Senate. Foreign relations chair Joe Biden said, "Over 1,000 weekly attacks and you're calling that a success?" Armed services chairman Carl Levin said of reports of progress through the years, he described them as "a litany of delusions." Respected Republican Richard Lugar said, "It's not enough to council patience until the next milestone or the next report." Don't they have a point?

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Watch the full interview

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Petraeus: Well, I share the frustration, frankly. I think that Ambassador Crocker and I will leave Washington with a very heightened sense of the impatience.

Couric: Has it made you reconsider any ways to speed up this process?

Petraeus: Well, I mean, we have looked for every way we can and we will look for more ways, frankly.

Couric: President Bush will embrace your plan to bring troops home to the pre-surge level of 130,000 by the end of this summer. When can more troops be withdrawn?

Petraeus: I can project out that far to mid-July of next year and then around mid-March or so I would have a degree of confidence to project beyond that. So there will be continued reductions, but I just can't at this point, predict the pace of those reductions.

Couric: When we walked around Fallujah, you were pleased with the strides that had been made in Anbar Province in western Iraq. But you also discussed that challenges throughout the country when it comes to quelling the violence there. How can you have more security with fewer troops?

Petraeus: Well, by getting locals to do what happened in Anbar Province, by getting local security forces, Iraqi security forces to help thicken what we do, to augment and then to take over.

Couric: But your critics have said that this strategy is too open-ended, General, with no long-term plan. And this sort of time will tell, we'll see how it goes philosophy just doesn't cut it.

Petraeus: I think to try to look way out and say this is exactly what we're going to do in a country that has surprised us repeatedly just would not be responsible.

Couric: You cannot envision 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq for the next 20 years.

Petraeus: No way.

Couric: What about five years?

Petraeus: I'm not going to hazard that kind of projection or prediction. I think it's actually irresponsible.

i love bush

[madisongirl-2009]

the SurrenderCrats don''''t want to wait when conditions are right for withdrawal

They''''re demanding that we give up now

Seems to sum up the story

LOL

[madisongirl-2009]

the SurrenderCrats don''''t want to wait when conditions are right for withdrawal

They''''re demanding that we give up now

Seems to sum up the story

LOL

Actually, I despise the war criminal but I was just trying to see if CBS would reinstate my ability to post comments as they apparently didn%u2019t like my antiwar opinions.

[gkc99]

General Pet certainly is earning another year as Bushit''s head lackey in Iraqi. If he said anything other than what Massah Monkey told him, he''d be General Pet (ret.).

[pansycritter]

Sir, are the deaths of our children in these despicable conditions making us safer here in the United States?

Sir, do you stand behind the policy of your commander without question? Are you in touch or smart enough to question?

Sir, do you ever consider your legacy or the legacy of this administration? Do you realize you have been considered the most political general since McArthur? Is that the legacy you desire?

Sir, do you understand you are taking orders from a No Show, No Plan Commander-in-Chief with No Way Forward?

[searingtruth]

Gosh.

Petraeus agrees 100% with Dictator Bush.

Now that''s independence!
ST


"Moments before our destruction we discovered that weapons were not reason."
SearingTruth

"Whenever you murder someones child, by hand, bullet, or bomb, their parents believe you are evil."
SearingTruth

"And for the voiceless, it was a march, to death."
SearingTruth

"Tyranny and tyrants do not change, nor does the character of those who defeat them."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[feelfree1]

Who cares what General Betrayus and Major Catastrophe think? They are war criminals desperate to avoid a war crimes tribunal.

###

How is it going in Iraq?

"Fatigue Cripples US Army In Iraq"

"The army is worn out. We are just keeping people in theatre who are exhausted," says a soldier working for the US army public affairs office who is supposed to be telling me how well things have been going since the "surge" in Baghdad began."

"They are not supposed to talk like this. We are driving and another of the public affairs team adds bitterly: "We should just be allowed to tell the media what is happening here. Let them know that people are worn out. So that their families know back home. But it%u2019s like we%u2019ve become no more than numbers now."

www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/12/3129

[name_verify]

VICTORY IS AMERICAS ONLY CHOICE

[feelfree1]

How is it going in Iraq?

"GIs morale dips as Iraq war drags on"

"I don''t see any progress. Just us getting killed," said Spc. Yvenson Tertulien, one of those in the dining hall in Yousifiya, 10 miles south of Baghdad, as Bush''s speech aired last month. "I don''t want to be here anymore."

###

"It''s not individual atrocity," Specialist Garett Reppenhagen, a sniper from the 263rd Armour Battalion, said. "It''s the fact that the entire war is an atrocity."

[lorinkundert]

Does anyone really care what Congress thinks? they certainly don''t care what the voters think except on election day.

So the General didn''t confirm what the libs have been preaching and crying about, oh well life goes on and maybe bring some proof before you accuse a General of lying next time.

[pansycritter]

screen_name_ at 08:28 PM : Sep 12, 2007

I get up each day and proclaim VICTORY, I am still alive.

Another day under this hapless No-Way administration and proclaim VICTORY, I am still alive.

The single thing that makes me look forward to another day is the end of this Repug doomsday administration when I can indeed proclaim VICTORY.

[searingtruth]

"And so I ask, how many atrocities must we commit before we are evil? How many rights must we lose before we are no longer free?"
SearingTruth

"Tyranny is always preceded by the loss of just a ''little'' liberty."
SearingTruth

"Which morality shall we claim?
That of magnanimous oppressor and murderer in substitute of heartless oppression and murder?"
SearingTruth

"It was my flesh to defend my flesh. Not the fever of ambition, conquest, and greed."
SearingTruth

"Terror is not a guiding light."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[donnie900]

Interesting that now there''s this Shia/Sunni argument going on over here.

[pansycritter]

lorinkundert;

Generals don''t "lie", they do as commanded. They confirm, support and carry out the lies of the no-show, no-plan, no way-forward commander.

[donnie900]

Why should we be concerned whether or not the Iraqi government is Shia? Or Sunni? Unbelievable.

Is Iraq an experiment of Palestine? Or are we to see Palistinian failure here? Is this some .. banker''s idea of a lesson? Unbelievable.

I got no interest in no god damned Sunni. Nor no god damned Shia. Ya hear? Thats not my business.

[lorinkundert]

pansycritter,

You can''t dispute statistics unless you can prove the data is wrong, and until the data is proven wrong I and the majority who think logically will support him.

[sparks224]

Why did this General refuse to be sworn in?
For the same reason the oil company executives refused to be sworn in.

[donnie900]

The real war here is the war against people who think they''re in charge of our destinies! I am a consumer to you, pal.. AND YOU CAN''T STAND IT! The same way you talk about me passing me by on the street in yer ******** limo!

[pepperp1]

OUCH ....... Move On wasnt that mean;



Admiral Fallon? Inter-Press Service suggests animosity between the two might be one reason for Fallon%u2019s absence:

Fallon told Petraeus [in March] that he considered him to be %u201Can ***-kissing little chickensh*t%u201D and added, %u201CI hate people like that%u201D, the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior.



dont think the Generals boss lie him....not sure how I would feel if my boss said that to me....but I think we all could have guessed the General might be a ya know....smacker

[hawksprings]

If the Dembots have a majority in Congress, and they have this overwhelming mandate from the people to get us out of Iraq, why couldn''t they get anything through to the President?

Could it be that enough Dembot Congressmen were hearing something a little different from their constiuency than what Peloozer and Reed have been telling us that the American people want?

Seems like it should have been a slam dunk for them but it wasn''t.
That tells me the some of the Dembots were too scared to throw their lot in with Peloozer because they knew what the ramifications would be next election cycle.

...

[donnie900]

Buncha ******** bankers in charge.. Isn''t that right, Iran. Isn''t that right Congressman.

[pansycritter]

lorinkundert,

Generals are not so thin-skinned. They may have the deer-in-the-headlamps look before Congress but when the data is not there the deer are indeed looking into the headlamps.

If they had a plan and a commander, they may have been around to see the tail lights.

[feelfree1]

lorinkundert,

Re: "You can''t dispute statistics unless you can prove the data is wrong"

Agreed. All data points to the fact that the illegal war against Iraq is a spectacular failure. The data also shows that the majority of Americans know that the illegal war against Iraq is a failure. The data shows that the American people, the Iraqis, and the majority of the planet recognize the failure, and want the U.S. forces out of Iraq immediately.

The burden of showing that this data is wrong, lies with you and the pathetic and rapidly shrinking minority of arse/boot-licking Bush regime dead-enders.

[toldyouso21]

THE 3 QUESTIONS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ASKED PATREAUS:

"In 2004, you thought things were improving and going swell just like Bush was reporting and yet they actually were deteriorating, weren''t they?"


"In your personal core beliefs, is retreat or failure in a mission ever an option or ever honorable?"

"You were wrong in your assessment of the war and how it was proceeding in 2004 (you said there were many signs of improvement and progress in neighborhoods when everything is actually worse than it was in 2004 and continues to be worse" Given your tendency to be wrong yet have a soldiers tunnel vision to see only the goal of your CIC and not the reality; how can you or America be sure you are not looking at Iraq and the data with rose colored specs, just like you did in 2004?"

[gretagreen]

No Hawksprings, it is b/c we need 60 senators to get anything done and we don''t have 60 Dems in the Senate.
This is seventh grade American Government stuff . ..

[gretagreen]

I didn''t even realize the general was not sworn in when he testified before Congress! Why the $#%% not??! EVERYONE should have insisted on that.

[hawksprings]

greta, the house of reps didn''t send squat to the senate, did they?

[feelfree1]

gretagreen,

Re: "I didn''t even realize the general was not sworn in when he testified before Congress! Why the $#%% not??! EVERYONE should have insisted on that."

Veteran CIA analist, Ray McGovern, did suggest this from the audience. He was ejected.

Posted by gretagreen

[pansycritter]

lorinkundert,


Hey, gotta thank you for giving me another addition to the "no" list. Like to give credit where credit is due.

No Show
No Plan
No Way Forward
No Data

Nice touch.

[toldyouso21]

Well all of us can continue to write our weak azz Congressmen and hope they pay attention or....we can finally get off of our azz in record numbers of MARCH and BOYCOTT. That''s right--if 80% of America REALLY does not support this war---time to put our money where THEIR mouth is--over the crotch of the economy. Let 200 million men, women and children stop going to restaurants, shopping or even buying gas for a day or 2--let this entire country FEEL it, let them know we are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

Illegals do it, minorities do it--but after the 1960s we seem too lazy and self absorbed to exercise that formidable power. March...we don''t have to go to WAshington or anywhere further than our own downtown--just march or if you can''t or refuse to leave work--don''t buy anything except essentials--but gas and food--but NOT not clothes or pepsi or toysor games or electronics. Just pretend it is Christmas day and the shops are closed. Then the next day pretend it is again. While we don''t spend--we write our Congressmen and tell them EXACTLY what we are doing and why. Of course all of those FOR the war are welcome to make up the difference in our not buying...LOL.

Our slogan "WE AREN''T BUYING IT ANYMORE" And that, ladies and gentlemen is how you stop the world.

[sharncedar]

"Bush regime dead-enders" that is good. Har.

[why_not_nar]

guys, we know more about this than we think.
first, why can''t congress be stronger? answer: it takes a 3/4 vote to overide a Presidential veto. Those votes do not exist.
Were we lied to? Yes, of course. IRAQ initially had very little to do with terrorism.
Why did this happen? Yes, there was no plan. But worse, we destroyed the country. all of its infrastructure with no plans to replace it.
Whose is currently doing the killing? The Shia, the very people we liberated from Saddam.
Now, having gotten into this very large mess. There are some problems. The terrorist are involved now. IRAN will not need much provocation to cross the border. They already are.
Is there progress? Yes. However you measure it there is less killing going on.
What is next?

[feelfree1]

hawksprings,

Re: "greta, the house of reps didn''''t send squat to the senate, did they?"

They need send anything to anyone. They need only to refuse to advance any bill that includes any more spending for the illegal war in Iraq, and complete the articles of impeachment against the Bush regime.

[searingtruth]

"I begged for the denial of basic human rights for others. Not myself. Please let me go."
SearingTruth

"A principle, sacrificed, is rarely resurrected."
SearingTruth

"Most saw the world as a conflicted group of disparate entities, instead of the fragile web we were.
Thus our demise."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[toldyouso21]

No Hawksprings, it is b/c we need 60 senators to get anything done and we don''''t have 60 Dems in the Senate.
This is seventh grade American Government stuff . ..
Posted by gretagreen at 09:10 PM : Sep 12, 2007


What is also 7th grade---when you must take a stand, don''t back down. The new war budget should include timelines again--and this time when bush vetos it--send it back again and again and again and again and again and again and again
again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again until Bush and the Republicans either compromise or be guilty of stopping the funds to the troops AND putting them in harms way with a stroke of their pen. IN other words--Democrats need to get a backbone and learn how NOT to blink first and how to stand their ground.

[ioweign]

VICTORY IS AMERICAS ONLY CHOICE

Posted by screen_name_ at 08:28 PM : Sep 12, 2007


On May 1, 2003 George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in Navy One, a Lockheed S-3 Viking, wearing a flight suit. A few hours later he gave a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq War. Clearly visible in the background was a banner stating "Mission Accomplished."

Time to come HOME !! George wore out his welcome over 4 years ago...

[racam_us]

To think that this general could tell anything but what Bush has told him to say is well - to him it would be treason to go against the commander-in-chief. He is an old military man that has come through the ranks to get his four stars by doing what was expected of him whether it is right or wrong.

[gretagreen]

Yes, Hawk, the House sent over a number of bills that I were o.k (not great) -- such as no funding for the troops without definite benchmarks. They tried three times, with weaker and weaker bills; the third time, the bill passed the Senate. (Remember?) Bush vetoed it. I don''t recall if Bush vetoed a second bill that passed the Senate, but we all know what we ended up with. Hence, the big deal over Petraeus.

But, honestly, Hawk, I cannot sincerely or passionately defend the Dems. I do not have much respect for politicians in general.

Thanks for the info about the ejectment of Ray McGovern. Why didn''t anyone else speak up!?! I''m writing my congressman and senators about this.

[toldyouso21]

WHY WON''T MOST AMERICANS USE THE POWER OF THE BOYCOTT? TOO LAZY , OR JUST TOO GREEDY?

NOT EVEN FOR A FEW DAYS---THEN ALL OF YOU WHO WON''T --DESERVE EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS HERE AND MORE. PEOPLE GET THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY THEY ARE TOO LAZY OR SCARED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT.

[why_not_nar]

1. We need to forget about the central government and stop giving it money.
2. we have to help rebuild at least a portion of the country
3. We have to restore oil production, and use that money to fund rebuilding the country
4. We have to stop our business''s from forming separate oil deals withint the country.
If we aren''t willing to do the above.
And yes, the President has gotten us into the worst situation American has been in 100 years, we should just leave.
One thing. Bush did not invent or cause terrorism. He may have founght it ineffectively. He may have attempting to run over the constitution in the name of protection.
But the terrorists are here, on there own. And they are far from done.
So here is the question? Does staying in IRAQ affect worlwide terrorism?, and our safety?
If we truly believe the answer is NO. They somehow we need to go have the fight now, to get out. But Vietnam? This isn''t Vietnam. Vietman was never tied to the communists domination of the world. We left Vietnam. Chine didn''t invade, neither did Russia. And we survived. There was no oil. And Vietnam had very little outside influences in the country.
If we believe that the same is true today in IRAQ, then we do need to get out. Now. But it isn''t as simple a question as Vietnam was.

[pansycritter]

No, we do not need 60 anything%u2019s. We do need to stop blatting and blaming.

Repugs are tired and afraid of their No Show, No Plan, No Data, and No Way Forward Commander-in-Chief.

How would you feel if this were your guy? I know, I know...Democrats read more, think more and are smarter but just try for a second to think this was...oh, ok. I give up.

[donnie900]

"What is next?"

What do ya mean what is next? How many different way can we ****** something up? Leave! Our responsibility is our presence there. Leave? And we''re no longer responsible.

This is the master plan of the master blaster banker! Who bets on both sides.

[ioweign]

He is an old military man that has come through the ranks to get his four stars by doing what was expected of him whether it is right or wrong.
Posted by racam_us at 09:26 PM : Sep 12, 2007

He is a West Point grad and from what I heard Princeton too. All government paid. Come through the ranks [implies to me] that at one time he was not a commissioned officer - he has always been an officer.

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770

Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

[toldyouso21]

After the next election we won''''t have to put up with the gop rubber stamping because they won''''t be there to rubber stamp.
Posted by rharrin1 at 09:29 PM : Sep 12, 2007


Don''t be sooo sure. Many of us (my group are all Independents and will be voting the way I indicate) have lost a lot of respect for the Democrats for failing to stand their ground and send the vetoed bill back over and over again. We also have little respect for the Democrats:

1. Failing to read legislation they sign so appt of ambassadors and US attorneys could be made behind their backs

2. for giving Bush and the FBI more latitude to spy and wiretap Americans

3 For not revoking the immunity to war crimes bill

4. For failing to put the brakes on the Patriot act


The Democratic party does not act like an opposition party. They act like a weaker version of the Republican party that whines and cries a lot, and tries to pretend to be on the other side of the issue--but their heart is not in it.

My personal distaste as time goes on has me considering voting Republican---just to underline to Democrats what happens to weak azz fence sitters--besides, I am against illegal amnesty.

[donnie900]

Ya walk in to a lady''s bookay banquet wit brown streaks in yer underwear, they''re gonna all smell it. And they''re gonna all treat ya like shyyt.

The premise for entering the war is wrong? The premise for continuing the war is wrong. And the only thing that we can do! THE ONLY OPTION! Is leaving.

[gretagreen]

ToldYouSo: I have been thinking the same thing. I do not like to go on marches or demonstrations, but I will. I went to a HUGE one in San Francisco right before the war with about a half a million people (so the paper said) but I''ve seen only little ones since then. Maybe we could do something huge if it was sponsored by many different organizations?

[name_verify]

VICTORY IS AMERICAS ONLY OPTION

[donnie900]

DON''T GIVE ME THAT POMPOM STUBBORNNESS!!