MoveOn Petraeus Ad: The Facts

Oh, the knashing of teeth is loud indeed about the full page ad MoveOn.org placed in the New York Times to coincide with the Petraeus-Crocker spin exhibition. It's dominating discussion in the corporate media, in rightwingnut circles and even among some Democrats in Congress. Sadly, it's much louder than any wailing about the real tragedy of the last few days -- namely, that BushCo has made it clear they intend to keep the occupation-surge going full throttle until the next president steps in to clean up the mess.

The usual unholy alliance between the Repub mouthpiece media, Bush's handpicked military officers (all naysayers have been dispatched) and the White House PR operation is vehemently dedicated to its mission to make sure nothing really changes in Iraq. Well, by summer they MIGHT withdraw troops down to what they were before the 2006 election, but maybe not. It depends on whatever The Decider says it depends on when the time comes. And you know how he is.

Of course there's the minor matter that we can't really sustain the "surge" troop levels after late Spring without condemning those serving to ANOTHER stint in the occupation zone without adequate down time, but that's never bothered The Decider before. He apparently couldn't care less whether he breaks our military as long as he can keep the victory-is-near charade going until he can dump the bloody mess in the hands of his successor. If nothing else, Bush has always been good at escaping the consequences of his bad decisions.

Betrayal is Betrayal
Unfortunately, an abundance of traditional media outlets, all those grimacing Repubs before the cameras and even some moaning and groaning Dems are giving more time to complaining about the MoveOn ad than challenging the failed strategies feeding the debacle in Iraq. What's being ignored is that General Petraeus DID BETRAY THE FACTS during his droning performance before House and Senate committees. And in betraying the facts, he betrayed the people, especially the troops he commands. I guess the "patriotic" thing to do would be to ignore the situation and pretend that distortions, omissions and spin in his testimony is just fine by us. He is, after all, a handpicked four star, and apparently deserving only of praise uttered in worshipful tones.

The Facts
I know it's probably considered nitpicking in many quarters, but what did the MoveOn ad really say beyond its headline? You can see the ad (PDF), along with the full text. MoveOn has aslo provided convincing documentation for its assertions . I don't hear anyone refuting any of them. All I hear is the usual hypocritical grandstanding by Repubs who would love to change the subject from the facts at hand to a sideshow designed to demean Dems for daring to confront Bush.

Even more analysis on how Petraeus and the traditional media are ignoring or distorting the facts is provided by Think Progress and Media Matters. More at Speaker Pelosi's blog and this McClatchy News article.

Come on, everyone knows how things work in Washington, especially Bush's Washington. If generals or anyone else doesn't publicly (or sometimes even privately) agree 100% with Bush, they're either silenced, forced out or labeled "weak on terrorism." Remember how, one by one, previous Generals left the service after straying from the party line -- only to be replaced with someone willing to further The Decider's PR game?

Following in the Footsteps of Powell
Didn't we hear very similar excuses about Colin Powell and his often false and misleading testimony before the UN -- which got us into Iraq in the first place? Turns out Powell wasn't as full of integrity, competence and truthfullness as many at the time would have us believe. Turns out he wasn't really worthy of the degree of respect in which he was held. Turns out we might have entirely avoided the Iraq quagmire if more Democrats had been willing to sacrifice some of their oh-so-sacred "civility" for some speaking truth to power.

Now here we are again. Time to give up the fairy tale belief that Generals, by their very nature, don't lie publicly on behalf of their commanders-in-chief. History is full of cherry picked stats and clever distortions offered by military officers, CIA directors and many other "distinguished" personages to further the desires of presidents. It's not shocking to anyone but those afraid to call a spade a spade, even with so much on the line.