Petraeus Will Betray Us

Today, General William Petraeus and US Ambassador Crocker will take to the Hill and try to convince Congress to continue Mr. Bush's endless war in Iraq. While this is billed as a candid assessment of our progress in that country, the White House has been working earnestly to position General Petraeus as optimistic about our progress. Optimistic despite the fact that the General Accounting Office and the National Intelligence Estimate both have said little progress has been made. Optimistic despite the fact that the last CBS/BBC poll says that 78% of Iraqi's believe conditions in the country have gotten worse since the surge began. Optimistic even though violence has increased everywhere we have not surged. (Oddly, the GAO has said it "cannot get comfortable" with how Gen Petraeus presents his casualty numbers. But then again, those casualties tend to be someone else or someone else's children.) Optimistic even though General Patraeus' own letter to our troops admitted that "things have not gone as we had hoped," with political progress in Iraq. Optimistic even though the AP reports August has been the bloodiest month of the year in Iraq.

Does this sound familiar? We were optimistic that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Optimistic despite the information provided the CIA by Iraq's Foreign Minister. Optimistic despite the reports of the UN Weapons Inspector. Optimistic despite the reports of our own weapons inspector. Optimistic despite the counsel of our own Secretary of State. Optimistic even when the government's chief Iraq guru, Stephen Clarke, told the President there were no such weapons.

The pundits over the weekend and this morning all assured us that General Petraeus is a "straight shooter," and I suspect that his optimism will be enough for our invertebrate Congress to allow the bloodshed to continue. And he will be optimistic. Gen. Patraeus has already seen what happens to generals who are not optimistic. The President has already scheduled an address right after the Petraeus report and the Democrats are already figuring out how far they will bend over to get some compromise. The deal is done. This is not a Progress Report, it is kabuki theater.

General Petraeus will give us just enough. Just enough to believe there is a chance to save face. And that is all we will require. A man in uniform telling us we can be victorious. Some guy with a square jaw and a good feeling. That will be good enough for us. If General Petraeus can convince us that our efforts are being marginally successful in some quarter of Iraq, I have no doubt that this will be enough to keep us going. Because here in America, it appears that you do not need to make a very convincing case to instigate violence against another country.

You just have to be optimistic.