The Bush and Petraeus Show and 9/11

Bush's man in Iraq, General Petraeus, testified yesterday and today before Congress. Despite months of anticipation and promises of a "Petraeus Report," no such report was ever produced. All we got instead was a bunch of flashy charts and statistics (the methodology behind which is classified and which are contradicted by other governmental and nongovernmental sources), statements about success and progress that are not borne out by reality, and some new excuses and talking points for the Republican Party and its leader, President Bush, to continue their disaster of a war for the foreseeable future. None of them can clearly explain what "success" is, or when we can actually leave. We do know that Bush has every intention of leaving his mess for his successor to clean up.

Gary Kamiya discusses the real lessons of 9/11, the date shamelessly chosen for this testimony (despite the complete disconnect between the 9/11 attacks and Iraq). Ezra Klein shares his thoughts on the continued exploitation of today's tragic anniversary. Dan Froomkin helpfully rounds up reactions to Petraeus's testimony from the mainstream press as well as the blogs. Glenn Greenwald has a video online explaining just how compromised Petraeus's judgments are, as well as an article documenting the shameless propaganda that he engaged in with Brit Hume on Fox News yesterday. Kevin Drum takes on the "chaos hawks." Andrew Tilghman writes an important article in the Washington Monthly on Al Qaeda in Iraq.