Will Ambassador Crocker Undercut Petraeus -- And Give Antiwar Movement Big Boost -- Come September?

[babylonsister]

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jun/29/will_ambassador_crocker_undercut_petraeus_and_give_antiwar_critics_ammo_come_september

Will Ambassador Crocker Undercut Petraeus -- And Give Antiwar Movement Big Boost -- Come September?
By Spencer Ackerman | bio

As people in Washington has been saying for weeks now, the whole town is waiting with bated breath for September's Iraq-war progress report from General David Petraeus. Depending on what it says, that report will either serve as a short-term bulwark against Democratic calls for withdrawal or will make withdrawal a politically unstoppable force.

But it may be that an accompanying assessment of Iraq's political scene, to be delivered by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, will actually prove to be the more significant one -- in a way that could give a crucial political boost to the antiwar cause.

Here's why: Some recent comments Crocker made to a reporter that have gone almost entirely unnoticed suggest that he is on the verge of concluding in his report that the Iraqi political scene is flatlining and that there's really no hope for political reconciliation. And if he does say this come September, it would likely undercut Petraeus's expected plea for more time to prosecute the surge. It would also give antiwar critics much more ammo to pressure wavering Republicans in Congress into abandoning Bush and the war.

The evidence that Crocker may say as much in his report can be found buried in Joe Klein's recent article in Time magazine about Iraq.

When Klein met up with Crocker in Iraq, he found the Ambassador in something of a frustrated mood, thanks to Maliki:

The Iraqi government is irresolute to the point of near collapse. It is nowhere near to figuring out how to make a political deal amongst the contending parties that might lead to stability. "All this attention on benchmarks has actually been bad for the process," Ambassador Crocker says. "We've wasted so much time and energy on getting a hydrocarbon law" — that is, a law to divide oil profits amongst the ethnic and religious parties, likely to be approved soon — "but it has very little to do with getting a functioning government in place." The truth is, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is puttering along, happily dependent on the U.S. "There are no consequences for them when they screw up," Crocker says. "Whatever's wrong, we take care of it."

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[bigtree]

1. got to be wary of anything Bush commissions though

anything associated with this administration.

We need the independent assessment Democrats in Congress promised . . . or their own. They put way too much stock in Petraeus, judging from his cheerleading in recent weeks.

As Bob Dylan wrote, 'they don't need a weather vane to know which way the wind blows.'

[babylonsister]

2. I'm real wary of Petraeus and Crocker; after all the bad news

coming out of Iraq, will they really have the chutzpah to tell us everything is going swimmingly, according to schedule? I fear they will, but don't know who will call them on it.:-(

[TwilightGardener]

3. To add more fuel to this fire, Insight Magazine (never heard of it until today)

says that Gen. Peter Pace is pissed about being fired and will come out swinging agaisnt the admin and Iraq policy this fall, after he's out of the military. September/October will be interesting.