Should We Believe Petraeus . . . Or MoveOn.org?

betrayus ad.JPG

Here is the text of the execrable MoveOn.org ad that slanders General David
Petraeus, on the day he testifies before Congress:

"General Petraeus is a military man constantly at war with the facts.
In 2004, just before the election, he said there was “tangible progress”
in Iraq and that “Iraqi leaders are stepping forward.” And last week
Petraeus, the architect of the escalation of troops in Iraq, said, “We
say we have achieved progress, and we are obviously going to do everything we
can to build on that progress.”

Every independent report on the ground situation in Iraq shows that the surge
strategy has failed. Yet the General claims a reduction in violence. That’s
because, according to the New York Times, the Pentagon has adopted a bizarre
formula for keeping tabs on violence. For example, deaths by car bombs don’t
count. The Washington Post reported that assassinations only count if you’re
shot in the back of the head — not the front. According to the Associated
Press, there have been more civilian deaths and more American soldier deaths
in the past three months than in any other summer we’ve been there. We’ll
hear of neighborhoods where violence has decreased. But we won’t hear that
those neighborhoods have been ethnically cleansed.

Most importantly, General Petraeus will not admit what everyone knows: Iraq
is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war. We may hear of a plan to withdraw
a few thousand American troops. But we won’t hear what Americans are desperate
to hear: a timetable for withdrawing all our troops. General Petraeus has actually
said American troops will need to stay in Iraq for as long as ten years.

Today, before Congress and before the American people, General Petraeus is
likely to become General Betray Us."

Go and read David
Petraeus’ op-ed piece from 2004
in which he states we have made ‘tangible
progress’ in Iraq. The general lays out a lot of specifics that MoveOn.org does
not, and cannot, challenge. Petraeus was not saying that things were all rosy
in Iraq – he was simply laying out some of our successes there.

That does not put him ‘at war with the facts’ as MoveOn hopes you will believe
- that just puts him at odds with MoveOn’s radical creed that no progress of
any kind is possible, ever, in Iraq, and that if you state otherwise, you are
a liar and a traitor. This is a superstitious belief among the anti-war crowd,
not an actual investigation of facts.

As for the surge strategy failing, well, MoveOn.org is completely invested
in that narrative, but of course it is completely wrong. Anbar province has
been pacified. Baquba has been pacified. Deaths by car bombs are down, in fact
- there hasn’t been a major attack involving large casualties in quite some
time. As for casualties among our troops . . . the strategy is called The Surge,
with troops pouring in to pacify the country (Baghdad specifically). It was
expected to raise casualty rates, and it has, but not to the extent predicted.

More:

MoveOn.org
Calls Petraeus a Traitor
– Pete Hegseth, Weekly Standard.

Has
MoveOn Betrayed the Democratic Party?
– Byron York, NRO.

"A general who "betrays us" is a traitor, like Benedict Arnold.
Now that it’s OK to question people’s patriotism, can we start with MoveOn?"
says John
Hinderacker.

Update: Reporting to Congress by General David Petraeus.

Update: Confederate Yankee informs us that the New York Times gave MoveOn.org a hefty 61% discount on the ad.

Crossposted from WILLisms.com

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  • http://Array Bat One

    “No, well yes, I mean no, I mean yes, I mean…”

    Bill,

    Sounds just like John Kerry, doesn’t it?

  • gonzo

    the talking disasters over at dailykos are on full spin mode. they belittle “a general” petraeus as if he is some jackass general and not “the” general, and they conveniently mention nothing about the moveon gaffe while playing up some ridiculous Iraqi poll that “proves” the surge is failing.

    moveon.org is in big big big trouble.

  • Bat One

    Goon,

    Here’s something else to ponder: Should the $102,000 “discount from the published rate for such an ad be reported to the Federal Election Commission as a contribution to the MoveOn.org political action committee? Unless NYT can document that it has offered similar “discounts” to other 527 groups, I would think that answer should be yes, the discount must be reported as a political contribution.

  • http://www.valleydeals.com/cgi-bin/board2/YaBB.pl Kevin

    Let the military do its job, something slackers know nothing about.

  • http://ewebsmith.com/ ews48

    Talk about foaming at the mouth.

    This is America.

    As far as MoveOn, like it or not, they have the right to print what they want (1st Amendment ) but, why give them more visibility.

    As far as the General, did you expect him to say that he is doing a bad job?

    The truth is some where in the middle.

  • http://www.kenmccracken.blogspot.com/ Ken McCracken

    We give them visibility, because it makes them look like the utter fools that they are.

    This is not good publicity for the anti-war nutjobs.

  • Bill Mitchell

    I saw one Dem Congressman come on Fox and state that “Everything Petraeus said is a lie…”

    He was then asked if he is calling Petraeus a liar.

    The Dem said, “well no, of course not, I’m just saying that everything he said wasn’t true…”

    I’m serious, you can’t make up stuff this good.

  • http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

    Bill said By taking such an extreme position (calling Petraeus a traitor and liar), they have forced the Dem leadership to distance themselved from the ad. So if they don’t agree with the ad, they must agree Petraeus is speaking the truth right? “No, well yes, I mean no, I mean yes, I mean…”

    Oh what a tangled web we weave.

    It is a disgrace that some of the dems are taring and feathering a awesome leader like Petraus. That is a shame and a travesty.

  • Bill Mitchell

    “The Devil always overplays his hand…”

    Napolean did it at Waterloo, Hitler did it in Russia and now MoveOn.org has done it for the left.

    By taking such an extreme position (calling Petraeus a traitor and liar), they have forced the Dem leadership to distance themselved from the ad. So if they don’t agree with the ad, they must agree Petraeus is speaking the truth right? “No, well yes, I mean no, I mean yes, I mean…”

    Oh what a tangled web we weave.

    So do they say, “we condemn the ad, but agree with everything in it…”?

    Oh lord, how screwed are these guys? So, so screwed.

  • http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

    Bat one that sounds like the making of a scandle, there is a reason the NYT is losing readers. This is just one of the reasons.

  • Bat One

    Confederate Yankee notes that ABC News’ Jake Tapper is reporting that the MoveOn.org’s ad cost $65,000, which is a 61% discount from the published rate of $167,157 for such a full page ad.

    I wonder if the NYT offered the same discount from its published rate card to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, also a so-called 527 advocacy group? Somehow, I doubt it.

  • http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

    Bat one I think your right, I would love to see Moveon.org and the NYT try to explain this to the FEC. Well uh, we blame, I guess they will probably Bush. When ever the left gets into trouble or don’t have a intelligent explaination they blame Bush and Chenny.

    I think some head are going to have to roll for this one. Funny thing is that the same dems that have been bought by Moveon.org were back pedaling away from it. Notice nancy has been denouncing it. I didn’t hear Harry’s response to it.

  • Bat One

    …like it or not, they have the right to print what they want…

    ews48,

    They do indeed. And the rest of us have every right to point out their malicious slander, and to excoriate the Democrats who refuse to dissociate themselves from this lying, leftwing hate-mongering.

    As for this,

    The truth is some where in the middle.

    “the truth” is that your remark is little more than so much moral equivalence of the sort that lends credibility to the slander.

  • http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

    This just shows how distatefull the left wing defeatocrats are. The George Soros wing of the Democratic party, the one that has bought and paid out Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

    For the the North Dakotas notice that Team ND isn’t that list that Redstate has sent out. So at least our ND libs aren’t drinking the MOVEON.ORG Koolaide just yet.

    Here are the members you should call. Again, the number is 202-224-3121.

    Harry Mitchell AZ-5
    Gabrielle Giffords AZ-8
    Jerry McNerney CA-11
    Joe Courtney CT-2
    Christopher Murphy CT-5
    Tim Mahoney FL-16
    Ron Klein FL-22
    Jim Marshall GA-8
    John Barrow GA-12
    Melissa Bean IL-8
    Joe Donnelly IN-2
    Brad Ellsworth IN-8
    Baron Hill IN-9
    Leonard Boswell IA-3
    Nancy Boyda KS-2
    John Yarmuth KY-3
    Tim Walz MN-1
    Paul Hodes NH-2
    John Hall NY-19
    Kirsten Gillibrand NY-20
    Michael Arcuri NY-24
    Heath Shuler NC-11
    Zack Space OH-18
    Jason Altmire PA-4
    Patrick Murphy PA-8
    Christopher Carney PA-10
    Chet Edwards TX-17
    Nick Lampson TX-22
    Ciro Rodriguez TX-23
    Steve Kagen WI-8

  • Hoss

    “The truth is some where in the middle.”

    Wow, what a brilliant conclusion. Sure, it’s somewhere in the middle: One guy’s a brilliant General in the middle of it every day making constant assessments, talking to the soldiers and citizens on the ground, and planning accordingly; and then you have a bunch of anti-war, anti-American leftists who wouldn’t know combat or military strategy outside of their Playstation or XBox games.

    Yeah, I’m sure it’s somewhere in the middle. It must really suck to be in a party that has invested in our defeat.

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