Preview to Petraeus?

NIE Cites ‘Uneven’ Security Gains, Faults Iraqi Leaders – washingtonpost.com

Another government report is released, and yet again, the picture it paints contradicts virtually every claim made by the prosecutors of the military operation in Iraq. The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released August 24, 2007, contains many discouraging findings, of which the following is typical.

The IC [Intelligence Community] assesses that the Iraqi Government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months because of criticism by other members of the major Shia coalition (the Unified Iraqi Alliance, UIA), Grand Ayatollah Sistani, and other Sunni and Kurdish
parties. Divisions between Maliki and the Sadrists have increased, and Shia factions have explored alternative coalitions aimed at constraining Maliki.

It will be shocking if the highly anticipated Petraeus report contradicts any of these findings. After all, the findings of the Director of National defense have been quite consistent over the past few years. So, how on earth could Petraeus produce a report that categorically contradicts every one of the DNI’s major findings and the findings of other government and military bodies for the past four years? How could one general produce an assessment of reality that differs dramatically from the assessments of all of his predecessors? Why do these senseless pleas for patience keep finding sympathetic ears? Isn’t anyone listening?

And, if Petreaus does contradict everybody, would that mean that Commander in Chief was stupid enough to appoint boneheads to lead the Iraqi operation for the past four years? Or would it mean that Petraeus is the bonehead? The American psyche is plagued with such a pernicious insolence when it comes to reasoning that is not surprising at all that the majority fail to reason that Petraeus’ report will be damning to the White House no matter what it says.

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