Petraeus: “Don’t Know” if Iraq War is Making America Safer

Crocker offers a Crock
and the beat goes on...

Washington, DC. September 11, 2007

Responding to a question from Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, General David Petraeus said “I don’t know...” if the war in Iraq is making America safer. This startling and refreshingly candid reply seemed to be the General’s way of answering “no”. Certainly, if he felt that our military efforts were directly impacting our national security he would not have hesitated and answered as he did. No. He knows (and we know) that our efforts in Iraq have never had anything to do with our national security and have done nothing to bolster our homeland defense. If anything, the facts and reality of the situation indicate that our continued involvement in a failed occupation of a country roiling from civil war, ethnic cleansing, the lack of an empowered, accepted central government now in the fourth year of war, is fostering increasing hostility towards America. In a recent poll 58% of Iraqis agree that it is acceptable to attack U.S. troops. While there was no al- Qaeda presence in Iraq prior to our invasion, pockets of Iraq are al-Qaeda strongholds. If we are not securing our national interests and security with our efforts there, why do we remain?

The hapless Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, sat next to General Petraeus as they testified before two Senate Committees today. Crocker had that deer-in-the-headlights look throughout the proceedings and, if he is the best and brightest the State Department has to offer, we are in very deep trouble indeed. Crocker admitted that the U.S. backed central government in Iraq is “dysfunctional” which even to the casual observer was a gross understatement.

It was pathetic to listen to their testimony and especially ironic that it occurred on the sixth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Was this yet another ham-handed disingenuous effort by the administration to connect the events of that day to Iraq? Probably; they have used that blatant falsehood at every opportunity over the years. This is among their most grievous lies.

So the long awaited Petraeus Report turned out to be a charade, a damning indictment of our continuing efforts, our ongoing abysmal failures and total lack of diplomatic initiatives. The facts spoke for themselves and no amount of obfuscation and semantical waltzing could conceal these sad, costly facts. This entire “surge” has been a cruel hoax, a means to prolong our engagement until Mr. Bush is safely, blissfully back at the ranch in Crawford clearing brush and waiting to “refill the coffers” with speaking fees.

September 11, 2007: Osama bin Laden is still sending us video messages, every rationale originally floated by the administration for going to war in Iraq has proven to be false, over one million Iraqis have left Iraq, hundreds of thousands more are essentially refugees in their war torn country, U.S. taxpayers have spent one trillion dollars on Iraq, we have lost 3800 of our troops with over 25,000 troops suffering grave injuries and there is no end in sight. Meanwhile, a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda engage our meager military force in Afghanistan daily in fire fights. Who would have ever imagined all of this? Who could have predicted six years ago that we would find ourselves in this untenable situation? How many more of our troops will die, how much more suffering must be endured until someone in our government has the moral fortitude to end our involvement in this chaotic storm?

We have been had. Scammed, conned and lied to in the most horrific manner regarding the most serious of issues. Six years ago today the nations of the world were firmly behind us as we first glimpsed the war on terror. Now we stand alone, bloodied, bruised, battered and weakened because we have allowed George W. Bush to live in the White House while he should never have been able to leave his dusty ranch in Texas and bring his ineptitude and delusions of Divine guidance to Washington DC as our president.