Newspaper Editorials Not Convinced by Petraeus

Editor & Publisher:

So what does the press have to say, on the day after the landmark testimony of Gen. David Patraeus (along with Ambassador Ryan Crocker) on Capitol Hill, with another day to come on Tuesday?

We will present the editorial reaction as it comes in, but most of it has been negative.

"For months, President Bush has been promising an honest accounting of the situation in Iraq, a fresh look at the war strategy and a new plan for how to extricate the United States from the death spiral of the Iraqi civil war," The New York Times opened. "The nation got none of that yesterday from the Congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. It got more excuses for delaying serious decisions for many more months, keeping the war going into 2008 and probably well beyond.

Read the whole story: Editor & Publisher

Comments

[truthyguy]

Back up a minute.
Why the hell does anyone think this guy a some sort of savior to begin with? Why are we giving him a presumption of credibility not given other generals who have testified to the contrary? Because we were told to do it by Bush and Co. and, like sheep, we go willing where led.

[JGatsby]

"The main success General Petraeus cited was in the previously all-but-lost Anbar Province where local sheiks, having decided that they hate Al Qaeda more than they hate the United States"

No. What the "local sheiks" decided is that they would pretend to cooperate in order to get $$ from the US which they will use to purchase weapons and kill the Shia (who I thought were supposed to be alies) as well as US troops.

[jackjett]

Question

Why is it necessary for the people questioning these two to spend so much time kissing his ass. I mean, for fucks sake, he is paid by US and no one is asking or thanking our ass.

On top of that, why do our elected officials only get a few minutes with him. What does he have to do that is more important?

Does he need to pin on some more jewelry?

Jack Jett

[Captain EdwardGraham]

I am not convinced either:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhS4px-xuqU&mode=related&search= waffen ss march viktoria seig heil & leibstandarte nazi

[Captain EdwardGraham]

'Swear Him In'

by Ray McGovern
That's all I said in the unusual silence on Monday afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen. David Petraeus' microphone before he spoke before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.

It had dawned on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to ask him to take the customary oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I had no idea that my suggestion would be enough to get me thrown out of the hearing.

I had experienced a flashback to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in early 2006, when Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) reminded chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) that Specter had forgotten to swear in the witness, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and how Specter insisted that that would not be necessary.

Now that may or may not be an invidious comparison. But Petraeus and Gonzales work for the same boss, who has a rather unusual relationship with the truth. How many of his senior staff could readily be convicted, as was the hapless-and-now-commuted Scooter Libby, of perjury?

So I didn't think twice about it. I really thought that Skelton perhaps forgot, and that the 10-minute interlude of silence while they fixed the microphone was a good chance to raise this seemingly innocent question.

The more so since the ranking Republican representatives had been protesting too much. Practicing the obverse of "killing the messenger," they had been canonizing the messenger with protective fire. Ranking Armed Services Committee member Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) began what amounted to a SWAT-team attack on the credibility of those who dared question the truthfulness of the sainted Petraeus, and issued a special press release decrying a full-page ad in today's New York Times equating Petraeus with "Betray-us."

[Captain EdwardGraham]

09/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Marisol Heredia, 19, of El Monte, Calif., died Sept. 7 at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related injury July 18 in Baghdad, Iraq. She was assigned to the 15th Brigade Support Battalion...

09/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Capt. Drew N. Jensen, 27, of Clackamas, Calif., died Sept. 7 in Seattle of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire during combat operations May 7 in Ba’qubah, Iraq. He was assigned to the 5th Battalion...

09/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Cpl. Ryan A. Woodward, 22, of Fort Wayne, Ind., died Sept. 8 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire during combat operations near Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron...

09/10/07 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (part 4)
Sgt. Michael J. Yarbrough, 24, of Malvern, Ark...died Sept. 6 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were all assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton

09/10/07 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (part 3)
Staff Sgt. John C. Stock, 26, of Longview, Texas...died Sept. 6 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were all assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton

09/10/07 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (part 2)
Cpl. Bryan J. Scripsick, 22, of Wayne, Okla...died Sept. 6 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were all assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton

09/10/07 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (part 1)
Cpl. Christopher L. Poole Jr., 22, of Mount Dora, Fla..died Sept. 6 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were all assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton