Who's Writing the Petraeus Report (Hint: It's Not General Petraeus

Iraq Veterans Say Recent Revelations about Heavily Hyped Report Discredit It Before Its Release

NEW YORK -- The Los Angeles Times reported this morning that political staff at the White House will be writing the greatly promoted September report on progress in Iraq, and already are debating how to fudge the truth, which has Iraq veterans reacting angrily.

"While our troops are subjected to increased violence, a whack-a-mole insurgency, and an Iraqi government that's on vacation, we keep getting told to just wait for the Petraeus report. Now, we find out that bunch of political hacks in the White House are writing the report - not General Petraeus," said Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org. "We know that they're already talking about how to fudge the facts to make it look like progress, where none exists in terms of the political, diplomatic, and economic benchmarks. This utterly destroys the credibility of the September report, weeks before it's even released."

"It's clear the administration is afraid of an honest assessment, because if they admitted what the troops already know -- that the surge is not moving Iraq towards a stable government and society -- it would have to admit that our troops have been asked to give their lives for a failed strategy," he added.

In this morning's Los Angeles Times, it was reported:

Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

The senior administration official said the process had created "uncomfortable positions" for the White House because of debates over what constitutes "satisfactory progress."

During internal White House discussion of a July interim report, some officials urged the administration to claim progress in policy areas such as legislation to divvy up Iraq's oil revenue, even though no final agreement had been reached. Others argued that such assertions would be disingenuous.

"There were some in the drafting of the report that said, 'Well, we can claim progress,' " the administration official said. "There were others who said: 'Wait a second. Sure we can claim progress, but it's not credible to . . . just neglect the fact that it's had no effect on the ground.' "

The Defense official skeptical of the troop buildup said he expected Petraeus to emphasize military accomplishments, including improving security in Baghdad neighborhoods and a slight reduction in the number of suicide bomb attacks. But the official said he did not believe such security improvements would translate into political progress or improvements in the daily lives of most Iraqis.

"Who cares how many neighborhoods of Baghdad are secured?" the official said. "Let's talk about the rest of the country: How come they have electricity twice a day, how come there is no running water?"

VoteVets.org is a pro-military organization committed to the destruction of terror networks around the world, with force when necessary. It represents the Voice of America's 21 Century Patriots - those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. It primarily focuses on nonpartisan education and advocacy on behalf of troops, veterans and their families.