Poll says most don't trust Petraeus' report

To hear the testimony of Petraeus today, one would think that we've been in Iraq for four months instead of four years. We've had four years to train the Iraqi police and military. We've had four years to rebuild Iraq. We've been waiting for "progress" for four years now, and all we've really got is Bush asking for more patience. We hear that the surge of 30,000 additional troops has only been in 'full swing" for two months now. What about the 130,000 pre-surge troops?

Likewise, Petraeus' "drawing down" of troops is really nothing more than letting the troops whose tours are over actually go home. We don't have another 30,000 troops to replace them. Apparently, allowing soldiers to leave the military when their contract is up is now called "withdrawal".

Crocker's testimony was the most worthless: We overthrew Saddam, Iraqis voted, Al-Qaeda is bad. There was some vague talk about Iraqi politicians 'starting to work together', but mostly the civil war in Iraq seems to be regarded by Crocker as something created by Al-Qaeda, Syria, and Iran to make Bush look bad. Of all of the people to testify, why Crocker? He has no credibility as part of the Bush Administration, and he is just an ambassador who deals with the fake world of the Green Zone.

Aside from the technicial details of how Petraeus was going to doctor the numbers, it was completely what everyone expected. If you believed Bush before, then it was more of the same. If you doubted Bush before the testimony, then it was more rosy, selective cherry-picking of facts.
It was just one of Bush's press conferences, only with different people reading the script.
It looks like most people didn't expect much more than that, by the article below.
For almost three years now, 60% of Americans have said that the war is not worth fighting. Nothing that was said by Crocker or Petraeus today counters that. Just like the surge itself, Republicans expected big things from the report today, but all they got was the same familiar heads nodding and accusing the majority of the country of treason.


full story from Xinhua

Most Americans skeptical of Iraq status report: poll

Most Americans think the Bush administration's upcoming Iraq status report will exaggerate progress, and few expect it to result in a major shift in the administration's policy, a latest poll found.

The new Washington Post-ABC News poll released here Sunday, underscore the depth of public antipathy toward the Iraq war, the doubts about the administration's policies and the limited confidence in the Iraqi government to meet its commitments to restore civil order.

Most of the poll respondents expected David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, to express a rosier view when beginning to present the Iraq report to the Congress Monday.

Only about four in 10 said they expect the general to give an accurate accounting of the situation in Iraq.

A majority, 53 percent, said they think his report will try to make the situation in Iraq look better than it really is.

Two-thirds of Americans said they believe Bush will hold to his current course no matter what.

Overall, the American public's baseline judgment on the war is little changed -- more than six in 10 said the war is not worth fighting, a sentiment that has been a majority view for nearly three years.

This poll was conducted by telephone Sept. 4 to 7 among a random national sample of 1,002 adults.

Source: Xinhua