Petraeus Pwns Wexler

Posted By Blackfive

Today was interesting...

Man, if I hear one more politician say "With all due respect" and then show none at all...how General Petraeus must want to put a Corcoran so far up their fourth points of contact that they will taste Kiwi...the man has the patience of a Saint.

I was on Jerry Doyle's show today to discuss the report, and Jerry said that, if he were General Petraeus, that he'd want to leap across the room and throttle Lantos and Skelton...I understand that, but General Petraeus is a soldier, a professional soldier. He's independent while in uniform (which is 24/7 now). Hell, he might be a Democrat (maybe not any more after today). Maybe he could have run as a Dem for President in a few years...

Anyway, Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida showed his @$$ today and got it handed to him by General Petraeus:

Rep. Wexler rants: "Tragically, it is my understanding that seven more [U.S.] troops have died today while we are talking."

“In your testimony today, you claim that the surge is working and that you need more time. With all due respect, General, among unbiased, nonpartisan experts, the consensus is stark. The surge has failed, based on most parameters.”
<...>
“In truth, war-related deaths have doubled in Iraq in 2007 compared to last year. Tragically, it is my understanding that seven more American troops have died while we've been talking today. Cherry-picking statistics or selectively massaging information will not change the basic truth. And please understand, General Petraeus, I do not question your credibility. You are a true patriot. I admire your service to our nation. But I do question your facts [and] ... testimony stating that the dramatic reduction in sectarian deaths is opposite from the national intelligence estimate, the Government Accounting Office, and several other nonbiased, nonpartisan reports."
<...>
“This testimony today is eerily similar to the testimony the American people heard on April 28, 1967 from General William Westmoreland, when he told the American people America was making progress in Vietnam.”
<...>
“We've heard a lot today about America's credibility. President Bush recently stated we should not have withdraw our troops from Vietnam because of the great damage to America's credibility.

“General, there are 58,195 names etched into the Vietnam war memorial. Twenty years from now, when we build the Iraq war memorial on the national mall, how many more men and women will have been sacrificed to protect our so-called credibility? How many more names will be added to the wall before we admit it is time to leave? How many more names, General?”

GEN. Petraeus responds: “Congressman, first of all, I have not said that the surge should be extended. In fact, my recommendations are that the surge be curtailed earlier than it would have been. The forces of the surge could have run all the way until April before we began pulling them out, and that would be if we did not recommend its continuation beyond that. My recommendations, in fact, include the withdrawal of the Marine Expeditionary Unit this month without replacement, and then a brigade starting in mid-December, and then another one about every 45 days. And that's a considerable amount prior to, in fact, how far the surge could have run if we'd just pushed everybody for 15 months.”
<...>
"With respect to the facts that I have laid out today, I very much stand by those. As I mentioned, the GAO actually did cut off data at least five weeks and in some cases longer than that in the assessment that it made, and in fact those subsequent five weeks have been important in establishing a trend that security incidents have gone down as they have and have reached, as I mentioned, the lowest level since June 2006 with respect to incidents and with April 2006 in terms of attacks."

“I stand by the explanation of the reduction in ethno-sectarian deaths and so forth.”

“And lastly I would say, Congressman, that no one is more conscious of the loss of life than the commander of the forces. That is something I take and feel very deeply. And if I did not think that this was a hugely important endeavor, and if I did not think that it was an endeavor in which we could succeed, I would not have testified as I did to you all here today.”

The GAO reported on only the first five weeks of data out of 10 weeks of Surge? I didn't know that.  Also, CBS radio reported this evening that the nine Soldiers and Marines that died in Iraq today were due to accidents.  Tragic.

I talked to Uncle Jimbo today during the embarrassing search for the Mic for General Petraeus.  Both of us agree with John Forbes Kerry that MoveOn totally screwed the pooch by showing that they are too extreme in their bias to be rational.

Finally, the highlight of today was that I was able to meet John Ratzenberger.  One helluva guy.  I didn't ask for him to go on record so I won't say what we talked about, but you should know that John Ratzenberger really supports our troops and this country.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to visit the MoveAmericaForward Pro-Troop Rally and 9/11 Observance here in Chicago (at Touhy and N. Milwaukee in Niles, IL, at 6PM).   

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Comments

Petraeus Pwns Wexler

Today was interesting...

Man, if I hear one more politician say "With all due respect" and then show none at all...how General Petraeus must want to put a Corcoran so far up their fourth points of contact that they will taste Kiwi...the man has the patience of a Saint.

I was on Jerry Doyle's show today to discuss the report, and Jerry said that, if he were General Petraeus, that he'd want to leap across the room and throttle Lantos and Skelton...I understand that, but General Petraeus is a soldier, a professional soldier. He's independent while in uniform (which is 24/7 now). Hell, he might be a Democrat (maybe not any more after today). Maybe he could have run as a Dem for President in a few years...

Anyway, Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida showed his @$$ today and got it handed to him by General Petraeus:

Rep. Wexler rants: "Tragically, it is my understanding that seven more [U.S.] troops have died today while we are talking."

“In your testimony today, you claim that the surge is working and that you need more time. With all due respect, General, among unbiased, nonpartisan experts, the consensus is stark. The surge has failed, based on most parameters.”
<...>
“In truth, war-related deaths have doubled in Iraq in 2007 compared to last year. Tragically, it is my understanding that seven more American troops have died while we've been talking today. Cherry-picking statistics or selectively massaging information will not change the basic truth. And please understand, General Petraeus, I do not question your credibility. You are a true patriot. I admire your service to our nation. But I do question your facts [and] ... testimony stating that the dramatic reduction in sectarian deaths is opposite from the national intelligence estimate, the Government Accounting Office, and several other nonbiased, nonpartisan reports."
<...>
“This testimony today is eerily similar to the testimony the American people heard on April 28, 1967 from General William Westmoreland, when he told the American people America was making progress in Vietnam.”
<...>
“We've heard a lot today about America's credibility. President Bush recently stated we should not have withdraw our troops from Vietnam because of the great damage to America's credibility.

“General, there are 58,195 names etched into the Vietnam war memorial. Twenty years from now, when we build the Iraq war memorial on the national mall, how many more men and women will have been sacrificed to protect our so-called credibility? How many more names will be added to the wall before we admit it is time to leave? How many more names, General?”

GEN. Petraeus responds: “Congressman, first of all, I have not said that the surge should be extended. In fact, my recommendations are that the surge be curtailed earlier than it would have been. The forces of the surge could have run all the way until April before we began pulling them out, and that would be if we did not recommend its continuation beyond that. My recommendations, in fact, include the withdrawal of the Marine Expeditionary Unit this month without replacement, and then a brigade starting in mid-December, and then another one about every 45 days. And that's a considerable amount prior to, in fact, how far the surge could have run if we'd just pushed everybody for 15 months.”
<...>
"With respect to the facts that I have laid out today, I very much stand by those. As I mentioned, the GAO actually did cut off data at least five weeks and in some cases longer than that in the assessment that it made, and in fact those subsequent five weeks have been important in establishing a trend that security incidents have gone down as they have and have reached, as I mentioned, the lowest level since June 2006 with respect to incidents and with April 2006 in terms of attacks."

“I stand by the explanation of the reduction in ethno-sectarian deaths and so forth.”

“And lastly I would say, Congressman, that no one is more conscious of the loss of life than the commander of the forces. That is something I take and feel very deeply. And if I did not think that this was a hugely important endeavor, and if I did not think that it was an endeavor in which we could succeed, I would not have testified as I did to you all here today.”

The GAO reported on only the first five weeks of data out of 10 weeks of Surge? I didn't know that.  Also, CBS radio reported this evening that the nine Soldiers and Marines that died in Iraq today were due to accidents.  Tragic.

I talked to Uncle Jimbo today during the embarrassing search for the Mic for General Petraeus.  Both of us agree with John Forbes Kerry that MoveOn totally screwed the pooch by showing that they are too extreme in their bias to be rational.

Finally, the highlight of today was that I was able to meet John Ratzenberger.  One helluva guy.  I didn't ask for him to go on record so I won't say what we talked about, but you should know that John Ratzenberger really supports our troops and this country.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to visit the MoveAmericaForward Pro-Troop Rally and 9/11 Observance here in Chicago (at Touhy and N. Milwaukee in Niles, IL, at 6PM).   

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