Petraeus 'Softened' NIE Judgments on Iraq to Reflect "Improvements"

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House to Hold Hearings on Two New Reports on Iraq

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007; Page A08

The House will hold hearings next week on two key reports assessing political and military conditions in Iraq, jump-starting the debate over President Bush's strategy even before long-awaited testimony by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, due the following week.

A completed 70-page report by the Government Accountability Office, to be delivered to Congress next Tuesday, paints a bleak picture of prospects for Iraqi political reconciliation, according to administration officials who have seen it. The second report, by an independent commission of military experts, is being drafted. But a scorecard on the Iraqi security forces released yesterday by an adviser to the group concluded that the Iraqis are years away from taking over significant responsibility from U.S. combat forces.

The two reports -- and hearings on them in the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees -- will set a largely negative backdrop for Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Crocker, who are expected to testify together in a joint hearing before the two House committees and in a separate session in the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has objected to a Pentagon proposal that they appear on Sept. 11, a Pelosi spokesman said, and the exact date remains under negotiation.

Administration officials said yesterday that the Petraeus-Crocker testimony will closely follow the National Intelligence Estimate judgments released last week, which predicted continued political deterioration in Iraq but cited "measurable but uneven improvements" in the security situation.

The NIE, requested by the White House Iraq coordinator, Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, in preparation for the testimony, met with resistance from U.S. military officials in Baghdad, according to a senior U.S. military intelligence officer there. Presented with a draft of the conclusions, Petraeus succeeded in having the security judgments softened to reflect improvements in recent months, the official said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082701917_pf.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. And this surprises no one.

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3. maybe 'no one' here was surprised

but it doesn't make any sense to just assume these actions are common knowledge and just dismiss them as expected or unremarkable when they're finally revealed. We need to harp on these revelations, over and over, until we successfully pull this administration down.

[Buzz Clik]

5. Granted, but DU is hardly the place to break this "news"

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6. how completely arrogant

. . . to assume that everyone who comes here is as informed as you, and to chastise me for my effort.

Besides, we can't all post breathlessly about the unheard of act of bathroom sex and the trials and tribulations of Miss Teen America.

[Buzz Clik]

8. that's not my point.

Yes, it's important to get this information out -- with "out" being the key word.

People at DU who read this board with any regularity (and those are the people you'll reach) have been skeptical of the report from the beginning, and the skepticism heightened when it was announced that the general wouldn't be writing the report. Many people in many threads at DU predicted exactly that the report would be softened by the administration.

So, do you want to "get it out there"? Then do so. I suppose there's no problem with tossing it out here for reaction, but you need a different audience -- one that still has some degree of faith in this administration.

[bryant69]

2. Good gameplan for a change

Getting some of this stuff already in the air rather than waiting for Republicans to set the table.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

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4. I'm having a hard time promoting the actions of the Dem leadership

who knows what action they'll stick with this time. I would expect them to come back with backbone (and some chagrin over the FISA mess), but I'm left waiting to see that happen, just like the rest of us, without a great deal of confidence in them to hold fast and prevail.

. . . pretty frustrated, and I'm usually inclined to defend them to the mat. Let's hope our Senators and representatives make the leadership hold firm to their convictions and not allow the republicans ANY vote which would undermine those same.

[Supersedeas]

7. Petraeus is proving his quality for loyal political fidelity to the Frattten boy in Chef

[radfringe]

9. which report will he be asked about

the one he signed off on, or the one he would have written