DID THE GENERAL BETRAY US?

Definitely not! That dishonor belongs to his
lying boss! Mr. Bush misled us into war, and
continues to misrepresent what is happening
there, and why. True, the Gen. has misled us
as well. But he gets his mangled numbers
from the Pentagon, and faithfully passes them
on as gospel. BBC, the U. N., and other agencies
that accurately count civilian casualties in Iraq
tell us their has been no change in those sad
figures in the past year. Our own government,
you will recall, does not keep track of civilain
casualties in Iraq, and never has. So how can
it know? The pres. was asked once about them,
and admitted he didn't know, but guessed
"about ten thousand." Try 500,000, George!
And that's just the dead. Total casualties are
at least double that!

As for the good general, his service to the
country and devotion to duty merit respect as
well as gratitude. As I have written before
(July 24 blog), his statements are not always
accurate. In September, 2004 when the
upcoming election was about the war, Gen.
Petraeus wrote an op-ed in the Washington
Post brimming with optimism and good things
happening. At the time, he was in charge of
training and equipping the Iraqi army. He
reported: "Iraqi leaders are stepping forward,
leading their country and their security forces
courageously." And those security forces were
coming along well. Their leaders "are showing
courage . . . and momentum has gathered in
recent months." It was a very rosy picture that
he presented to the American public, and
carried a lot of weight with voters. Krugman,
of the NYT wrote of this: "After all, it puts to
rest any idea that the general stands above
politics: I don't think it's standard practice for
serving military officers to publish pieces that
are strikingly helpful to an incumbent, six weeks
before a national eclection."

I will not express disrespect for the general.
But what he said was not true. And what he is
saying now is not the whole truth. It's not
accurate. It's highly selective. And it serves
the purposes of his masters, not the best
interests of his troops or his country. If he gets
down and rolls in the political pig pen, he
should not be surprised if he gets barnyard
dirt on his uniform. That's sad, and it's a fact.
The U. S. Senate is just stupid and silly for
supporting this nonsense. As Mark Twain said,
"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you
were a member of Congress. But I repeat
myself."

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net