The "Petraeus" Report

For weeks now, we have all awaited the Petraeus Report of September, which is to give us a progress report on the Bush strategy of a "surge" of troops in Iraq.

It was recently reported by Tim Russert that a Republican congressman informed the President: "The word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There's no longer any credibility. It has to come from Gen. Petraeus." (White House Watch)

If any of you watched the interview with Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) at the bottom of a previous post ("Obama's Terrorism Policy is Correct"), you heard Biden, one of the most experienced foreign affairs experts in the country, say that he expected General Petraeus,to tell the truth when he came to Washington, D.C. From personal experience with the general, recently promoted to 4-stars, Biden believes that while he will be loyal to the President, he will also give a truthful assessment on Iraq.

Biden believes that while military has done its job in Iraq, the political solutions required have not been made and are not likely to be made. Prime Minister Nouri al-Malik is a Shiite politician with loyalties to Shiite tribes. After many years of oppression under the primarily Sunni Baathists, he has no desire to share power with them. This has led to continuing civil war, and we are caught in the middle of it. Biden believes that General Petraeus, when pressed, will agree with this assessment.

(Biden's solution, by the way, is that Iraq needs to become a federation of states with a small central government and relatively autonomous states in Kurdistan, the Sunni region in the West, and the Shiite region of the South. This sounds completely reasonable to me.)

The White House must have come to the same conclusion, because they have now announced that the progress report, the so-called "Petraeus Report," will be written by the White House. Great. That ought to be very informative.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) responded to that news by saying: "Americans deserve an even-handed assessment of conditions in Iraq. Sadly, we will only receive a snapshot from the same people who told us the mission was accomplished and the insurgency was in its last throes." (White House Watch)