Troop surge in Iraq: The Petraeus Report

The much anticipated report by U.S. Army Lt.Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, on the progress of the war and troop surge in Iraq is to be given to Congress on September 10, 2007, although it was long-expected to be delivered on September 15, 2007.

There will be no written report
On September 7, 2007, "a senior military official" told The Washington Times that "there would be no report at all."


 * "A senior military officer said there will be no written presentation to the president on security and stability in Iraq. 'There is no report. It is an assessment provided by them by testimony,' the officer said.


 * "The only hard copy will be Gen. Petraeus' opening statement to Congress, scheduled for Monday, [September 10, 2007,] along with any charts he will use in explaining the results of the troop surge in Baghdad over the past several months. ...


 * "Gen. Petraeus is expected to tell the president the surge is working but that more work is needed. He is not expected to recommend withdrawing significant numbers of U.S. troops, as the U.S. troop presence is still needed to bolster the slowly growing Iraqi security forces' capabilities."

Unofficial report
"No need to wait for the official report. Nope. Petraeus already has his talking points down," Joe Sudbay commented August 30, 2007, at AMERICAblog.

On August 31, 2007, Petraeus told The Australian newspaper "during a face-to-face interview at his Baghdad headquarters" &mdash;"timed to coincide" with President George W. Bush's visit to Australia on September 3, 2007, to "attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit" &mdash;that the "US troop surge in Iraq has thrown al-Qa'ida off balance and produced a dramatic reduction in sectarian killings and a drop in roadside bombings."

In his interview "preview" of the report to be given to Congress, Petraeus "foreshadow[ed] a 'gradual' reduction in the number of coalition troops in the country," The Age (Australia) reported. "Our objective, with all the coalition forces is . . . to gradually bring the surge down. Obviously we have some more months with the surge forces (still in place)," Petraeus said.

"We will wait until we see the President's response to the report and we will shape our forward planning around that response," Petraeus said.

Not really a "report", it's more an "assessment"
When asked August 29, 2007, in a U.S. Department of Defense press briefing, "Could you unravel, perhaps, a bit the mystery of the timing of various reporting to the president and Congress on Iraq beginning with Secretary Gates' -- when he'll present his recommendations to the president?", Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell responded:


 * "First of all, I think it's worth clarifying, as best I understand it. We've so often referred to the Petraeus report -- and I think we want to confirm this with his people, if you like -- but my understanding of the Petraeus report is that it's actually not a report but is an assessment which he will offer both to the president and to the Congress. Now there may be actual, you know, printed testimony that they will release, but I just want to get away from this notion that there's a lengthy report that will be handed out at one point.


 * "As for the process beyond that, you know, we've reached a critical point in Iraq with regards to our policy and our future operations, and it is essential, therefore, that the president get the best military advice he can possibly get so that he can decide the proper way forward. Now I have no idea what State is doing on this matter, but from a military perspective, Secretary Gates has been working hard to make sure that the president will hear directly from each of his senior military advisors, including, of course, Commanding General David Petraeus. But he'll also hear from, for example, CENTCOM Commander Admiral [William J.] Fallon; he'll also hear from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Peter Pace, and from the rest of the Joint Chiefs. And as you mentioned, he will also get the advice of the secretary.


 * "As for how this will be done, I can't get into the specific modalities of how these communications will take place, but I will tell you this: The secretary is determined that each of these people will be able to present their advice directly and in an unvarnished way so that the president will be getting each person's individual assessment on where we are and where we should be going. And armed with all that information, he'll then be able to make the best decision on the way forward.


 * "Now, they may come in the end to a consensus, but the objective of the system that the secretary has put in place is not to reach consensus.


 * "That may be the end result, but that's not what he's looking for. He's looking for a way to sort of make sure that the normal bureaucratic massaging that sometimes eliminates the rough edges or the sharp differences between individuals does not victimize this process so that the president can get distinct -- if that's the way it turns out to be -- points of view on where we are and where we need to go."

Benchmark reports
When questioned during a August 30, 2007, press briefing whether "the Joint Staff or Joint Chiefs of Staff have [had] an opportunity to see a draft of the GAO report? And was there any comments that you made in terms of how the military views the benchmarks that were -- their assessment of the benchmarks in the GAO report that's coming out next week?", Director for Operational Planning, Joint Chiefs of Staff Maj. Gen. Richard Sherlock responded thusly: Note that emphasis has been added.
 * "I have not seen or read the GAO report, but it's my understanding there are also two benchmark reports. There's the GAO report that's just being published, and then there's the president's benchmark report due in mid-September. I also understand that the GAO benchmark report is a report on the those benchmarks that have been achieved as opposed to the president's benchmark report, which will discuss and cite progress towards the achieving of those benchmarks . So the GAO side you have a pass/fail, whereas on the president's benchmark report, you'll be able to chart the progress and the progress that's been made towards achieving those.


 * "It's also important to note that many of the things outlined in the president's benchmark report are also ongoing without necessarily having achieved those benchmarks completely. For example, the government of Iraq is already sharing oil revenues with different areas of the country and different groups, in advance of fully passing those laws.


 * "There are a lot of reports that are getting ready to come out. The one that we are focusing on right now is the assessments and the recommendations coming in from the combatant commander and the ambassador. And we'll focus on those as they come in."

Progress doubtful
Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog cites Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org from his August 30, 2007, article "Complete and Total Meltdown" at The Huffington Post :


 * 1) "the GAOreport [DRAFT leaked August 29, 2007, to the Washington Post] 'that finds, more or less, that Iraq is in chaos' and challenges the underpinnings of Bush's claims of success;
 * 2) "the [August 29, 2007,] McClatchy news article that indicates military leaders won't make a single recommendation about the war to Bush; and
 * 3) "the shocking revelation that the Secretary of Defense [Robert M. Gates] was not told about the additional request for $50 billion in Iraq spending."

Also see

 * National Intelligence Estimate

Background

 * Also background articles from March 19-April 30; May, June and June; and August and September 2007.

Post-testimony facts and fact checking

 * Will Durst, "FAQs on General Petraeus' Testimony," AlterNet, September 17, 2007.
 * A.J. Rossmiller, "Even minor progress claims don't hold up," AMERICAblog, September 18, 2007.
 * John Aravosis, "One week after Petraeus says all is well, US bans almost (all) land travel by American govt. officials in Iraq," AMERICAblog, September 18, 2007.
 * Amanda Terkel, "U.S. Suspends ‘Land Travel’ Outside The Green Zone For Civilian And Diplomatic Officials," Think Progress, September 18, 2007.
 * Spencer Ackerman, "New Military Numbers Contradict Petraeus on Surge's Progress," TPMmuckraker, September 18, 2007.
 * "Public not buying Bush spin," Think Progress, September 18, 2007.
 * Suzanne Goldenberg, "Refugees in their own land: 2m Iraqis forced to flee their homes," The Guardian (UK), September 20, 2007.
 * Walter Pincus, "'Help Wanted' Ad Belies Report on Iraq Security," Washington Post, September 17, 2007.
 * kos, "Surge!" The Daily Kos, September 20, 2007.
 * "Another delay in returning Iraq to local control. Pentagon report highlights difficulties in developing Iraq police forces," Associated Press (MSNBC), September 20, 2007.
 * "The Decider: 'People Listen To Petraeus, Not To Me'," Think Progress, September 20, 2007.
 * Spencer Ackerman, "Exclusive: Petraeus' Sectarian Death Count Methodology," TPMmuckraker, September 21, 2007. Also see "MNF-I Ethno-sectarian Violence Methodology," ''Talking Points Memo Document Collection, September 21, 2007.
 * Satyam Khanna, "O’Hanlon’s Conflict Of Interest Revealed On Fox News’ One-Hour Petraeus Special," Think Progress, September 23, 2007.
 * "Petraeus adviser: Petraeus’ testimony ‘potentially misleading’," Think Progress, October 8, 2007.

Petraeus' report

 * David Swanson, "BetrayUsReport.com," After Downing Street.
 * Mike Soraghan, "Both sides get ready to spin Gen. Petraeus’s Iraq report," The Hill, August 15, 2007.
 * Dan Froomkin, "Whose Report Is It, Anyway?" Washington Post, August 16, 2007.
 * "Poll: Majority mistrustful of upcoming Iraq report," CNN, August 16, 2007.
 * "Fox News' Angle, Wash. Post editorial misrepresented upcoming Iraq report as 'Petraeus' report'," Media Matters for America, August 16, 2007.
 * Bill Corcoran, "FOX Spins Why White House Will Write General Petraeus' Report to Congress," News Hounds, August 19, 2007.
 * Paul Waldman, "The Utter Uselessness of the Petraeus Report. If you think the White House-penned report on Iraq will be anything other than a validation of 'the surge' and the Bush administration's larger strategy, you haven't been paying attention," The American Prospect, August 22, 2007.
 * Harkavy, "They Must Think We're Idiots," The Village Voice, August 22, 2007.
 * Satyam Khanna, "NIE: Violence To ‘Remain High’ In Iraq Over Next ‘Six To Twelve Months’," Think Progress, August 23, 2007.
 * Patrick O'Connor, "Republican Suggests White House Will 'tweak' Petraeus Report," The Politico, August 23, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA): White House Will ‘Tweak’ The ‘Petraeus Report’," Think Progress, August 24, 2007.
 * Jorge Mariscal, "Is 'Petraeus' Dutch for 'Westmoreland'. The General Reports," CounterPunch, August 27, 2007.
 * Karen DeYoung, "House to Hold Hearings on Two New Reports on Iraq," Washington Post, August 28, 2007.
 * Kevin Drum, "The Petraeus Report," The Political Animal/ABC News, August 28, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Petraeus ‘Softened’ Intelligence Community’s Judgments About State Of Iraq Violence," Think Progress, August 28, 2007.
 * "Fear-mongering Bush warns of Iranian ‘nuclear holocaust'," Think Progress, August 28, 2007.
 * "Bush to Stay the Course," U.S. News & World Report, August 29, 2007.
 * Kevin Drum, "Preempting Petraeus," The Political Animal/CBS News, August 30, 2007.
 * William S. Lind, "The Surge Behind the Spin. The Truth Tellers," CounterPunch, August 30, 2007.
 * "Petraeus: WH won’t write my September report," Think Progress, August 30, 2007. Includes news links.
 * Faiz Shakir, "White House Preparing Strategy To ‘Water Down’ Pessimistic Reports From Iraq," Think Progress, August 30, 2007.
 * "The ‘watering down’ campaign begins," Think Progress, August 30, 2007. Includes news links.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Tauscher Warns Of Petraeus’ Conflict Of Interest In Reporting On Escalation," Think Progress, August 30, 2007.
 * James Janega, "Durbin: Petraeus to warn of low troop morale," Chicago Tribune, August 30, 2007.
 * Steve Benen, "A house divided against itself…," The Carpetbagger Report, August 30, 2007.
 * The Angry Rakkasan, "Pentagon Gives Up; Hands War Over to Bush," The Daily Kos, August 30, 2007.
 * Brent Budowsky, "General Petraeus on Iraq: Always Partisan, Always Wrong," The Hill (AlterNet), September 1, 2007.
 * "Is General Petraeus's Data Misleading the American People?" National Security Network, September 4, 2007.
 * Fred Kaplan, "What Congress Needs To Ask Petraeus and Crocker. If we're staying in Iraq, we need to know why," Slate, September 6, 2007.
 * Karen DeYoung, "Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq. Military Statistics Called Into Question," Washington Post, September 6, 2007.
 * Karen DeYoung, "Iraqi Army Unable To Take Over Within A Year, Report Says. Breakup of National Police Is Urged," Washington Post, September 6, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Petraeus will say violence is down in Iraq because he's not counting the violence in Iraq," AMERICAblog, September 6, 2007.
 * Matthew Yglesias, "GI Fatalities in Iraq" (higher than last year), The Atlantic, September 6, 2007.
 * Amanda Terkel, "Right Wing Pushing Petraeus For President," Think Progress, September 6, 2007.
 * "Petraeus on Iraq: 'It has not worked out as we had hoped'," Think Progress, September 7, 2007.
 * John Aravosis, "Petraeus refusing to provide congress with written progress report on Iraq as promised," AMERICAblog, September 7, 2007.
 * Marcy Wheeler, "They Won't Put Their Lies in Writing," The Next Hurrah Blog, September 7, 2007.
 * William Branigin, "Petraeus: U.S. Forces Have Achieved 'Uneven' Results," Washington Post, September 7, 2007.
 * John Nichols, "Will Petraeus Betray the Truth -- And the Troops?" The Nation, September 7, 2007.
 * Spencer Ackerman, "No Written Petraeus/WH Report?" TPMmuckraker, September 7, 2007.
 * Marty Kaplan, "When Generals Lie," The Huffington Post, September 7, 2007.
 * Greg Sargent, "Wingnuts In A Lather Because Democrats Are Accurately Describing Iraq Report As Work Of White House," The Horse's Mouth/Talking Points Memo, September 7, 2007.
 * "A crash course in spin," Think Progress, September 8, 2007.
 * Gary Langer, "Most Are Skeptical of Petraeus Report. ABC News/Washington Post Poll: Few Think Bush Will Change Course on Iraq War," ABC News, September 9, 2007.
 * Brian Knowlton, "Democrats make pre-emptive strike on Iraq reports," International Herald Tribune, September 9, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Bush team focused on 'selling the surge'," AMERICAblog, September 9, 2007.
 * Tom Engelhardt, "Tomgram: Launching Brand Petraeus," TomDispatch.com; Antiwar.com, September 9, 2007.
 * "Petraeus Gives Exclusive One Hour Interview To Fox," Think Progress, September 9, 2007.
 * "Asking the right question of Petraeus," Think Progress, September 9, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Kristol: ‘Sober, Serious’ People Want Over 100,000 Troops In Iraq When Bush Leaves Office," Think Progress, September 9, 2007.
 * Amanda Terkel, "Progress In Anbar Initiated Four Months Before Bush’s Escalation," Think Progress, September 9, 2007.
 * "The chart Petraeus won’t show," Think Progress, September 10, 2007.
 * Suzanne Goldenberg, "The surge must go on, Petraeus to tell Congress," The Guardian (UK), September 10, 2007.

GAO report

 * Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks, "Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals. GAO Draft at Odds With White House," Washington Post, August 30, 2007.
 * Tom Bowman and Alex Chadwick, "Pentagon Officials Ask GAO to Revise Iraq Report," NPR, August 30, 2007.
 * "Report from U.S. Congress paints bleak picture of Iraq," Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), August 30, 2007.
 * "GAO Draft Complicates Reports Of Iraqi Progress," The Gate/National Journal, August 30, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "'Strikingly negative' report on Iraq challenges Bush's view of progress," AMERICAblog, August 30, 2007.
 * Jonathan Stein, "GAO Report: Iraqis Meeting 3 of 18 Benchmarks," MoJo Blog/MotherJones, August 30, 2007.
 * Spencer Ackerman, "Today's Must Read," TPMmuckraker, August 30, 2007.
 * William Kristol, "A Pathetic Preemptive Strike. The Washington Post and the GAO try to mislead on Iraq," The Weekly Standard, August 30, 2007.
 * Karen DeYoung, "Pentagon Challenges GAO's Report on Iraq," Washington Post, August 31, 2007.
 * Tabassum Zakaria, "U.S. report finds Iraq failing on goals," Reuters, August 31, 2007.
 * Dale McFeatters, "A pessimistic report card on Iraq," Scripps Howard News Service, August 31, 2007.
 * "Hill Report On Iraq Preempts Petraeus," Political Bulletin/U.S. News & World Report, August 31, 2007.
 * Demetri Sevastopulo and Andrew Ward, "White House rejects Iraq 'failures'," Financial Times (MSNBC), August 31, 2007.
 * Matt Corley, "O’Hanlon Hopes Final GAO Report On Iraq Will Be ‘Improved’ To Reflect WH Claims Of Progress," Think Progress, August 31, 2007.
 * clammyc, "One of these things is not like the others...," ePluribus Media, August 31, 2007.
 * Sheila Jackson, "The Woven Fabric of Lies Is Unraveling," OpEdNews, August 31, 2007.
 * Megan Scully, "Independent study finds Iraq has failed to meet most goals," CongressDaily (GovExec.com), September 4, 2007.
 * Jane Roh, "GAO Iraq Report More Positive Than Expected, But Still Grim," The Gate/National Journal, September 4, 2007.
 * "Iraq misses most benchmarks," UPI, September 4, 2007.
 * David M. Herszenhorn and Brian Knowlton, "Independent Audit Finds Progress Lacking in Iraq," New York Times, September 4, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "GAO Chief Suggests Administration Is Cooking The Books On Levels Of Sectarian Violence In Iraq," Think Progress, September 4, 2007.
 * Marcy Wheeler, "Still Holding My Breath for DeYoung and Ricks," The Next Hurrah Blog, September 4, 2007.
 * Marcy Wheeler, "The GAO Report Busts the Administration in Its Lies," The Next Hurrah Blog, September 4, 2007.
 * Mike Carney, "GAO report says Iraqis failed to meet 11 of 18 benchmarks," On Deadline Blog/USA TODAY, September 4, 2007.
 * Steve Benen, "Is three out of 18 bad?" The Carpetbagger Report, September 4, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "GAO Report: Daily Attacks Against Iraqis ‘Have Remained Unchanged’," Think Progress, September 4, 2007.
 * Jon Soltz, "Partial Progress Towards Progress Towards Progress," The Huffington Post, September 4, 2007.
 * Frederick W. Kagan, "What's Wrong with the GAO Report. Measuring failure--or the failures of measuring," The Weekly Standard, September 4, 2007.
 * Elana Schor, "GAO's Final Report on War Upgrades Earlier Assessment," The Hill, September 5, 2007.
 * Karen DeYoung and Ann Scott Tyson, "Military Officials in Iraq Fault GAO Report," Washington Post, September 5, 2007.
 * Marcy Wheeler, "GAO Report: The Status of the Dispute," The Next Hurrah, Blog, September 5, 2007.
 * "US GAO Report Says Iraqi Government 'Dysfunctional'," RTTNews, September 5, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Upset Over GAO’s Findings On Iraq, Lawmaker Attacks Agencies’ Qualifications To Issue Report," Think Progress, September 5, 2007: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) "attempted to claim that the GAO was unqualified to even render a judgment on the situation in Iraq."
 * Satyam Khanna, "O’Hanlon Rips GAO Report: It Is ‘Flat-Out Sloppy’," Think Progress, September 6, 2007.

Jones' Report

 * "Report: Iraq Police Must Be Scrapped," Associated Press (Military.com), September 5, 2007.
 * "Iraqi govn't adviser disputes new U.S. report critical of country's security forces," Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), September 6, 2007.
 * Karen DeYoung, "Iraqi Army Unable To Take Over Within A Year, Report Says. Breakup of National Police Is Urged," Washington Post, September 6, 2007.
 * Spencer Ackerman, "Jones Commission Report: Interior 'A Ministry In Name Only'," TPMmuckraker, September 6, 2007.
 * James Joyner, "Iraqi Police Should Be Scrapped, Army Far From Ready," Outside the Beltway, September 6, 2007.
 * Frederick W. Kagan, "Progress in the Iraqi Security Forces. What the Jones Report really says," The Weekly Standard, September 6, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Report: Massive U.S. ‘Footprint’ In Iraq Conveys ‘Permanence,’ ‘Opposite Impression Is Needed’," Think Progress, September 6, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Jones Report Reveals ‘Progress’ In Shia Ethnic Cleansing Campaign," Think Progress, September 6, 2007.
 * "Gen. Jones: ‘Yes,’ we can begin to withdraw from Iraq," Think Progress, September 6, 2007.
 * "Gen. Jones: US Occupation of Iraq appears permanent," The Raw Story, September 9, 2007.

Related reports

 * Leila Fadel, "Maliki: I won't resign, can't be forced out," McClatchy Newspapers, August 29, 2007.
 * Faiz Shakir, "INTERVIEW: Tauscher Returns From Iraq, Warns Of ‘Green Zone Fog’," Think Progress, August 29, 2007.
 * Robert Burns, "Bush to Hear Military's Concerns on Iraq. Bush to Hear Military's Concerns About Impact of Maintaining Heavy Troop Presence in Iraq," Associated Press (ABC News), August 31, 2007.
 * BC, "Everything Is Great In Iraq, Just Ask Bush's People," AMERICAblog, August 31, 2007.
 * James Glanz, "Congress Told of Problems in Rebuilding Provinces," New York Times, September 6, 2007.
 * Matt Corley, "Right Wing Attacks Zakaria For Stating Facts About Ethnic Cleansing In Iraq," Think Progress, September 7, 2007.
 * "Are we safer today? Six Years After 9/11 and Three Years After the 9/11 Report, Is the U.S. Ready to Get Serious About Terrorism?" Washington Post, September 9, 2007.
 * Peter Baker, et al., "Among Top Officials, 'Surge' Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting," Washington Post, September 10, 2007.
 * Jackson Diehl, "The Bottom-Up Partition," Washington Post, September 10, 2007.
 * Satyam Khanna, "Poll: Nearly 70 Percent Of Iraqis Say Escalation ‘Has Worsened’ Their Lives," Think Progress, September 10, 2007.
 * John Aravosis, "Iraqis say surge has failed. Only 25% say security has improved in past six months," AMERICAblog, September 10, 2007.
 * Susan Page, "Poll: Most want Iraq pullout deadline," USA TODAY, September 10, 2007.