This is the text of the ad placed by Moveon.Org that has caused a controversy. Critics are saying that this is a smear of a very good man -- and, a military commander during wartime -- and is way over the line. You can also find this text online. Here: CLICK or CLICK
You can decide how outrageous this is. Remember, this ad was published BEFORE the General testified before Congress. I'll welcome your comments and will include them in a future posting on BIRCHES, or not include them, just as you wish. How 'out of line' or outrageous is this?
GENERAL PETRAEUS OR GENERAL BETRAY US?
Cooking the Books for the White House
General Petraeus is a military man constantly at war with the facts. In 2004, just before the election, he said there was “tangible progress” in Iraq and that “Iraqi leaders are stepping forward.”And last week Petraeus, the architect of the escalation of troops in Iraq, said,“We say we have achieved progress, and we are obviously going to do everything we can to build on that progress.”
Every independent report on the ground situation in Iraq shows that the surge strategy has failed. Yet the General claims a reduction in violence. That’s because, according to the New York Times, the Pentagon has adopted a bizarre formula for keeping tabs on violence. For example, deaths by car bombs don’t count. The Washington Post reported that assassinations only count if you’re shot in the back of the head — not the front.
According to the Associated Press, there have been more civilian deaths and more American soldier deaths in the past three months than in any other summer we’ve been there. We’ll hear of neighborhoods where violence has decreased. But we won’t hear that those neighborhoods have been ethnically cleansed.
Most importantly, General Petraeus will not admit what everyone knows: Iraq is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war. We may hear of a plan to withdraw a few thousand American troops. But we won’t hear what Americans are desperate to hear: a timetable for withdrawing all our troops. General Petraeus has actually said American troops will need to stay in Iraq for as long as ten years. Today, before Congress and before the American people, General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us.
4 comments:
General Petraeus is another good soldier like Colon Powell. He realizes what he has to do to keep his job. He never criticized the Bush administration and danced all around Congress' questions to present the best possible face to the war. It was very painful to see him struggle with balancing the truth and the realities of the Iraq atrocity .
MoveOn.org is no different than other political organizations or directed media such as Fox or the Washington Post. They publish comments that are directed to their readers and do not necessarily give an equitable analysis of situations. They are geared to throw raw meat to lions, i.e., people that believe whatever is stated or printed even when they know it is not correct.
The military community is comparably structured as the political community in that this is their religion and they worship it accordingly, regardless of whether reasonable or not. General Petraeus is going to support the action while he is active as a commander. He must do so as it is his "duty". What idiot would think that the General would come back and state that the war is hopeless and that we should get out immediately. This action would result in his removal from leadership and jeopardize any plans he has to get his men safely out of this mess or on a more fantasy based thought, WIN....whatever that would be.
Freedom of Speech is a pain in the neck. Stay used to it, America!
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