On Friday Petraeus told the Australians a few lies which I assume will be the same thing we hear when he testifys to Congress. Here is the boldface lie he told the Aussies.
Petraeus told the Australian that there had been a 75 percent reduction in religious and ethnic killing since last year, while the number of al Qaeda "kills and captures" was on the rise. Reuters
Last week we found out that the above is just not true, no matter how many times they say it. How do we know this ? Last week the AP reported the exact opposite. Here is the money quote that should make that clear.
Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year - an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year. AP
The Australians have a election coming up and the Labor Party has promised if they gain control they will reduce their troops in Iraq by about a 1/3. Both Bush and Petreaus were there to talk the country from pulling out their troops. They lied as easily to them as they do to us. General David Petraeus gave a briefing Australia's defense minister, Brendan Nelson, in Baghdad and it seems Nelson may still be willing to back Bush.
Nelson said he had received a frank assessment of progress during a 90-minute meeting with Petraeus and said "the message is that this is achievable"....
Nelson planned to write to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about the paralysis in his administration and warn him that the "patience of open-hearted Australians should not be excessively tested".
Seems as Nelson has been paying attention to what Bush says to Maliki since the above quote sounds all too familiar. The Brits have already said they plan to cut back their forces in southern Iraq, if the Aussies start cutting back our Troops will become spread even thinner than they are now.
The new GAO Report that will be part of the Reports Congress is due to receive has even more ominous news to report on the Iraqi Troops readiness. If true, the by now old saw that " When they stand up, we will stand down" is even farther from happening according to the copy of the report the WaPo has been given.
Iraqi security forces are also assessed more severely in the GAO study than in the administration's July report. Although the White House found satisfactory progress toward the goal of deploying three Iraqi army brigades in Baghdad, the GAO disagrees, citing "performance problems" in some units. "Some army units sent to Baghdad have mixed loyalties, and some have had ties to Shiia militias making it difficult to target Shiia extremist networks," it says.
The GAO draft also says that the number of Iraqi army units capable of operating independently declined from 10 in March to six last month. The July White House report mentioned a "slight" decline in capable Iraqi units, without providing any numbers. The GAO also says, as did the White House in July, that the Iraqi government has intervened in military activities for political reasons, "resulting in some operations being based on sectarian interests." But its discussion of Iraqi security forces is often veiled, as when it states that the determination that the security forces benchmark was not met "was based largely on classified information."...
Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik, who in June became the commander of the U.S. troops training and advising Iraqi army and police units, struck a more somber note yesterday in a news conference in Baghdad. "The problems that the military commanders and the minister of defense have here in generating the Iraqi army are very significant, and they shouldn't be taken lightly," he said. WaPo
All of us would like to think the Democratic Party would put a stop this madness. That is why so many people voted for them last Sept., to change to course of things. With bills to fund Bushs War coming before Congress again real soon they do have a chance to do just that. Will they is the key question ? As much as I hate to say it, between the Blew Bush Dogs, the Republicans, and people like Sen. Levin , who sold us out a couple months ago when he declared he would vote to fund the troops as long as they were in harms way, there is no chance in hell that we can stop this war from going on until April of next yr at the earliest. Do any of you really believe the Dems anymore when they say, quoting a Reid staffer "It's long past time for giving blank checks to the administration." ?
I'm sorry this is not a upbeat, action type diary, but it is what it is, the truth as I see it. If anyone can make believe different, please do. I, as much as anyone would love to see this war end ASAP.
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