Peperpetual Stenography in Political Reporting: "The Surge"

[Image © Tim Davis/AllPosters.com]

Some of the members of this committee have observed that there is no military solution to the problems of Iraq. They are correct. .. Success will . . . depend on improvements in the capacity of Iraq’s ministries, in the provision of basic services, in the establishment of the rule of law, and in economic development. [General Petraeus’s Opening Statement, Senate Armed Services Committee Confirmation Hearing (NYT, 23 Jan '07)]

:: :: :: Writ large in John McCain's speech to the VFW this week was "The Surge," which translated from the Republican means "never fear, DAVE is here." Specifically pointing to General Petraeus' efforts in Iraq, McCain - reading from a script - accused Obama as willing to "lose a war to win an election". Oddly enough, the vast majority of the American media reported the McCain statement intact. But after an exhaustive five minute search, I found the above Petraeus transcript, and - memory proven accurate - verified that the good General and Ambassador Crocker both emphasized the totality of, and pointedly de-emphasized the strictly military aspects, of "The Surge." So they testified, and so has the detailed plan gone forward. Only a Republican demagogue would have the temerity to assume the American public, as well as those who have fought our wars, would be so totally ill-informed they would actually buy in to such point-and-shoot, patently misleading, false-on-it's-face rhetoric. Only the tone-deaf, blind, patently lazy American media establishment would print it as gospel.