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Liberal smears don't discourage general

By Bluey Posted in War — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Gen. David Petraeus fielded a question at the National Press Club today about personal attacks that have been lodged against him this week, notably the MoveOn ad that ran at a discounted rate in the New York Times. Petraeus' answer (in the video below) was outstanding.

It bears repeating:

Needless to say, to state the obvious, I disagree with the message of those who are exercising the First Amendment right that generations of soldiers have sought to preserve for Americans. Some of it was just flat completely wrong, and the rest is at least more than arguable.

A compilation of attacks on Petraeus is on the jump ...

MoveOn.org: “General Betray Us.” “Cooking the books for the White House. General Petraeus is a military man constantly at war with the facts. … Today before Congress and before the American people, General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us.” (MoveOn.org, Advertisement, “General Petraeus Or General Betray Us?,” The New York Times, 9/10/07)

• “Democratic Senator”: “No One Wants To Call [Petraeus] A Liar On National TV … The Expectation Is That The Outside Groups Will Do This For Us.” (John Bresnahan, “Between Iraq Report And A Hard Place,” The Politico, 9/10/07)

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV): “He's Made A Number Of Statements Over The Years That Have Not Proven To Be Factual.” “He’s made a number of statements over the years that have not proven to be factual. I have every belief that this good man, General Petraeus, will give us what he feels is the right thing to do in this report -- that is now not his report, it's President Bush's report.” (Sen. Harry Reid, Press Briefing, 09/07/07)

• “I Don’t Believe Him.” DANA BASH, CNN: “…General Petraeus is going to come to the Hill and make it clear to you that there is progress going on in Iraq, that the so-called surge is working. Will you believe him when he says that?” REID: “No, I don't believe him, because it's not happening. All you have to do is look at the facts.” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 04/23/07)

• Petraeus Not “Candid” Or “In Touch With What’s Going On In Baghdad.” “So I'm waiting to see if General Petraeus can be a little more candid with this. … [F]or someone, whether it's General Petraeus or anyone else, to say things are great in Baghdad isn't in touch with what's going on in Baghdad, even though he's there and I'm not.” (Sen. Harry Reid, Press Conference, 06/14/07)

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL): “He Is Presenting The Same Cherry-Picked Numbers That We've All Heard Before.” “The Illinois Democrat, one of the House's most vociferous critics of the war, had her BlackBerry ready, and Petraeus was mere minutes into his testimony when she began firing off messages. … ‘He is presenting the same cherry-picked numbers that we've all heard before. . . . 4 1/2 years later and we are still hearing how, despite their deficiencies, Iraqi security forces are expanding their capacities.’” (“The Antiwar Liberal: Jan Schakowsky,” The Washington Post, 9/11/07)

• Crocker “Just Wrong! … How Dare He!” “Next came Crocker's opening remarks -- and another furious e-mail from Schakowsky, with the subject line ‘Just Wrong!’ ‘Crocker had the chutzpah to begin by comparing Iraq and the chaos and violence there with U.S. history of slavery, universal suffrage, civil rights. . . . The US was not occupied by another nation that ran the show. . . . How dare he!’” (“The Antiwar Liberal: Jan Schakowsky,” The Washington Post, 9/11/07)

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA): The Surge Is “Killing Our Soldiers … You’re Cherry Picking Your Numbers.” BOXER: “I don't consider the surge a nuanced policy. It's killing our soldiers at a great rate. … Senator Biden talked to you about what the comptroller general said, and you're going to argue about it? I think the comptroller general ought to be listened to. He says you're cherry picking your numbers in terms of the overall violence. … I ask you to take off your rosy glasses. You had them on in '05.” (Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 9/11/07)

Rep. Rob Wexler (D-FL) “This Testimony Today Is Eerily Similar To The Testimony The American People Heard On April 28, 1967 … How Many More Men And Women Will Have Been Sacrificed To Protect Our So-Called Credibility?” WEXLER: “Cherry-picking statistics or selectively massaging information will not change the basic truth. … This testimony today is eerily similar to the testimony the American people heard on April 28, 1967 from General William Westmoreland, when he told the American people America was making progress in Vietnam … Twenty years from now, when we build the Iraq war memorial on the national mall, how many more men and women will have been sacrificed to protect our so-called credibility? How many more names will be added to the wall before we admit it is time to leave? How many more names, General?” (Armed Services Committee And Committee On Foreign Affairs, U.S. House Of Representatives, Hearing, 9/10/07)

The New York Times: “We Hope Congress Is Not Fooled By The Silver Stars, Charts And Rhetoric … The American People Deserve More” “We hope congress is not fooled by the silver stars, charts and rhetoric of yesterday’s hearing. … The American people deserve more than what the general and the diplomat offered them yesterday.” (Editorial, “Empty Calories,” The New York Times, 9/11/07)

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA): A “Petraeus Village,” “Just A Façade.” Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts said the general's testimony was a ‘Petraeus village’ that was ‘just a façade to hide from view the continuing failure of the Bush administration's strategy.’ Markey said Petraeus, 54, ‘may be delivering too much White House spin in hopes of adding more time to what he calls the “Washington clock.”’” (Ken Fireman and Janine Zacharia, “Petraeus's Credibility Wins Bush Extra Time for Iraq Strategy,” Bloomberg News, 9/11/07)

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI): Democrats “Are Not Being Fooled By [Petraeus’s] Claim Of Real Progress.” “Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who was among the first lawmakers to call for a withdrawal of U.S. troops, said he expects that the Petraeus report will actually have the opposite effect, pushing Democrats toward an even more robust withdrawal proposal. ‘I am picking up from my colleagues today a sense of exasperation and the feeling that they ... are not being fooled by this claim of real progress,’ Feingold said.” (Martin Kady II And Daniel W. Reilly, “Democrats Scramble For Iraq Strategy,” The Politico, 9/11/07)

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL): “We Don't Need A Report That Wins The Nobel Prize For Creative Statistics Or The Pulitzer For Fiction.” “Across the Hill in the House of Representatives, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., joined his Senate colleagues in claiming the Petraeus report would be little more than a work of fiction. … ‘We don't need a report that wins the Nobel Prize for creative statistics or the Pulitzer for fiction.’” (Matthew Jaffe, “Democrats Already Discrediting Upcoming Petraeus Report,” ABC News, 9/8/07)

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): Petraeus And Bush “Carefully Manipulating The Statistics.” “By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working. Even if the figures were right, the conclusion is wrong.” (Sen. Durbin, Remarks To The Center For National Policy, Washington, D.C., 09/07/07)

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA): “I Don't Think General Petraeus Has An Independent View.” “I don't think General Petraeus has an independent view in that sense. General Petraeus is there to succeed. He may say the progress is uneven. He may say it's substantial. I don't know what he will say. You can be sure we'll listen to it. But I don't think he's an independent evaluator.” (Fox’s “News Sunday,” 09/09/07)

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM): “The Course General Petraeus Has Recommended … Is Unacceptable, Irresponsible, And Dangerous.” “The course General Petraeus has recommended we take - more of the same - is unacceptable, irresponsible and dangerous.” (Gov. Bill Richardson, Press Release, 9/10/07)

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT): “That There Are Questions About Gen. Petraeus' Report Is Not Surprising … The Whack-A-Mole Strategy Has Made This The Bloodiest Summer Of The War.” “The fact that there are questions about Gen. Petraeus' report is not surprising, given that it was brought to you by this White House. In contrast, independent report after report indicates that the Whack-A-Mole strategy has made this the bloodiest summer of the war.” (Sen. Christopher Dodd, Press Release, 9/10/07)

Protesters: “Generals Lie, Soldiers Die … War Criminal!” “‘Tell the truth, General!’ says an activist with the radical group Code Pink, sporting a T-shirt — ‘Generals lie, soldiers die’ — that suggests she doesn’t think he will. She is spoken to but not ejected. Her colleague — who shouts, ‘War criminal!’ — is.” (Ryan Grim, “A Room With Two Views,” The Politico, 9/10/07)

• The New York Times: Ejected Protesters Were “People Who Just Wanted To Be Heard.” “When protesters interrupted the hearing, Mr. Skelton ordered them removed from the room, which is understandable. But then he said that they would be prosecuted. That seemed like an unnecessarily authoritarian response to people who just wanted to be heard.” (Editorial, “Empty Calories,” The New York Times, 9/11/07)