The Los Angeles Times reports that Gen. David Petraeus’ upcoming Sept. 15 report on Iraq will be authored by the White House:Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.
And though Petraeus and Crocker will present their recommendations on Capitol Hill, legislation passed by Congress leaves it to the president to decide how to interpret the report’s data.
[...]
President Bush had previously said he would “respect the command structure” and not intercede in the Petraeus report:I will repeat, as the Commander-in-Chief of a great military who has supported this military and will continue to support this military, not only with my — with insisting that we get resources to them, but with — by respecting the command structure, I’m going to wait for David to come back — David Petraeus to come back and give us the report on what he sees.
Apparently, Bush doesn’t plan to wait for a report; instead, he’ll have it drafted prior to Petraeus’ return. Markos writes: “Let me predict the future: The report: ‘Success!’ The interpretation: ‘Smashing success!’”
The parts emphasized were emphasized on the Think Progress site.
This story was picked up by quite few blogs, most making the point that the White House would be authoring this report with input from the General, other commanders and others involved.
Some Key quotes from some of those blogs, showing extreme indignation that the White House/President is issuing this September report, include but are not limited to:
The Greatest Journal with:
Gen. David Petraeus is due to make a report to Congress on the situation in Iraq. Does it surprise you at all that the report is going to be written not by Petraeus and his staff by by the White House, thereby making Petraeus into a stooge?
My Left Nutmeg:
Shays is racking up the frequent flyer miles on this recess, visiting Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and now Germany. So after the Iraq trip, why no press releases highlighting how the "surge" is making progress or how Shays eagerly awaits Gen. Petraeus' report (helpfully written by the White House) before Shays headed off to another jaunt in Berlin?
The Blue State:
General Petraeus' report to Congress in September will be written by the White House.
That should be enough to make the point I am going to make, but it bears mentioning that Technorati shows 7 PAGES of reactions linking to the original Think Progress post.
So, anyone wonder what is wrong with this picture?
Let me show you and Hat Tip to Influence Peddler because it was taking me forever to go through each and every word of H.R.2206,U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by House), to find the portion I had saw when the bill was first passed.
From the Influence Peddler:
It's also worth looking at exactly what Congress has required for September 15. I've written on it before. Here's what Congress passed, and the President signed:(A) The President shall submit an initial report, in classified and unclassified format, to the Congress, not later than July 15, 2007, assessing the status of each of the specific benchmarks established above, and declaring, in his judgment, whether satisfactory progress toward meeting these benchmarks is, or is not, being achieved.Is there any lack of clarity as to whom Congress tasked to prepare and submit the report? Anyone surprised that the report is being prepared by the White House, with the input of appropriate officials in Iraq and throughout the Executive Branch?
(B) The President, having consulted with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Commander, Multi-National Forces Iraq, the United States Ambassador to Iraq, and the Commander of U.S. Central Command, will prepare the report and submit the report to Congress.
(C) If the President’s assessment of any of the specific benchmarks established above is unsatisfactory, the President shall include in that report a description of such revisions to the political, economic, regional, and military components of the strategy, as announced by the President on January 10, 2007. In addition, the President shall include in the report, the advisability of implementing such aspects of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, as he deems appropriate.
(D) The President shall submit a second report to the Congress, not later than September 15, 2007, following the same procedures and criteria outlined above.
Now... a couple questions obviously present themselves here.
#1. Did Congress deliberately require the White House/ President to "submit" this report after having "consulted" with "the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Commander, Multi-National Forces Iraq, the United States Ambassador to Iraq, and the Commander of U.S. Central Command", knowing that they could then count on their supporters, such as Think Progress to either lie, claiming surprise this report would be written by the president, OR counting on their supporters to be ignorant enough to not have read the original wording to begin with?
#2. Are the blogs such as Think progress, and the other examples I named, really "acting" surprised and thereby lying to their readers by implying this is new news and it was not what Congress themselves mandated OR did they did not read the original wording of what Congress required ?
Take your pick, are they willfully lying to their readers or are the simply too ignorant to have read the original wording?
Is there another option here I have missed?
Please, enlighten me, if you think there is one.
[Update] One last thought here: It is amusing to me that the President is constantly criticized for not complying with Congress and yet when he does comply he is also criticized for doing just that... complying with what Congress mandated.
Why were there not cries and criticism of Congress, at the time, that they required the President to issue the report?
It goes to show that "some" people are so used to jumping on the "It's Bush's Fault" bandwagon, that they do not even bother to think for themselves and ask the appropriate questions or they willfully ignore the obvious in favor of attacking the President.
Does their obsession with Bush and their Bush Derangement Syndrome cloud their ability to think rationally?
[End Update]
[Update #2] Another liar or ignorant post today, on Huffington Post, via memeorandum,(Under featured posts) that hides their lie in a post about another topic, here is the quote:
General Petraeus was supposed to write and deliver a report in September that gave the country an update on how the surge and the Iraq War are going. Now, it turns out he won't be writing the report, the White House will.So, same questions apply, did Cenk Uygur #1: NOT read the original supplemental bill, thereby showing his ignorance in todays writing? OR, #2: did he read it, know it and is deliberately lying by implying the fact the President is issuing the report (AS MANDATED BY CONGRESS) and acting as if it is a new development?
[Update] The Moderate Voice is yet another blog that obviously didn't read the original bill.
But the fact that it now is going to be written by the Bush administration means it will only be embraced and pointed to by those who already strongly defend the war and by people such as conservative talk show hosts and Fox News commentators.
Perhaps Gandelman should read the emergency supplemental bill, and then he would know.
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