September Mourn 0
Forget the so-called September deadline. It was never a “deadline.”
Talking about September way back in May was just a way for Congress and the Administration to avoid facing the truth.
Instead of being any kind of decision point, September will instead be Bushie lies and stonewalling, as usual (emphasis added):
Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.
(snip)
The senior administration official said the process had created “uncomfortable positions” for the White House because of debates over what constitutes “satisfactory progress.”
During internal White House discussion of a July interim report, some officials urged the administration to claim progress in policy areas such as legislation to divvy up Iraq’s oil revenue, even though no final agreement had been reached. Others argued that such assertions would be disingenuous.
“There were some in the drafting of the report that said, ‘Well, we can claim progress,’ ” the administration official said. “There were others who said: ‘Wait a second. Sure we can claim progress, but it’s not credible to . . . just neglect the fact that it’s had no effect on the ground.’ “
Consider the track record. Which set of “officials” is likely to win that one?
Via Dan Froomkin.
