Why are we even waiting for General Petraeus' report?

Question

It looks like everyone has already made their decisions even before the report comes out.

From today's NY Times:

"The official line from the White House is that Mr. Bush will decide about the future of the troop buildup after hearing from General Petraeus and Mr. Crocker. But people familiar with the thinking of the administration say Mr. Bush is all but certain to press for the strategy that relies on heightened troop levels in Iraq to continue through spring, as initially planned."

And also:

'Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader [said] “We’ve got a series of hearings and reports due that will provide a much-needed dose of reality to the spin coming out of the White House. Republicans may be breathing a sigh of relief, but the fact is, they’re headed with the president over a cliff.”'

If everyone already knows what their answer is going to be, why are we waiting for the report?

Answer 1

Good question, seeing as how this report has not yet come out it is interesting to note the posture of various individuals as to what they expect the report to contain, and what they expect the outcome to be. To me, it demonstrates that everyone has already made up their mind as to how to interpret the report. This is an excellent way of measuring where one's bias in DC lies.

I think it's important for these reports to be written up and made a part of the public records. We need these because the simple talking points and speeches do not accurately convey the situations, and are not required to be 100% factual.

I also think it's incredibly immature for anyone in government to comment on the reports contents prior to it being finalized.

Answer 2

Even before the report was finalized, the Pentagon was already looking to make, in their view, necessary revisions in order to make it seem as though more "benchmarks" were fully achieved than the actual number. Therefore, it seems that the Bush administration was long expecting a rather unfavourable picture of the overall situation in Irag, thus the need for a bit of "tweaking" and revision of the standards themselves.

Answer 3

I'm not, because I know it's going to be the " Everything going great" bull again. I'm expecting the report just to be the lyrics to Monty Python's " Always Look at the Bright Side of Life"

Answer 4

It's a joke! Before the report even came out bush wants the TRUTHS in contains spun into what he wants it to say!

Answer 5

LMAO...you're quoting the NY Times. LOL...The GAO is an arm of Congress...Let's here from the people fighting the war in the Pentagon...what do you think

Answer 6

The Dems wanted the results published 3 weeks before it started. They can wait 15 more days.