Does the General Petraeus testimony change your mind? A POLL »
Posted by: Radiofreeeuropa 12 months ago180 Comments Report this Story
A bit of background and a poll. Did this change your mind about success in Iraq?
Read Full Story at youpolls.com
Join the Discussion 
+ Add Comment
Comments So Far: 180
-
0%
Radiofreeeuropa12 months ago
After all the hoopla surrounding the generals testimony.
What do the people think? Lets find out.
Reply-
0%
dunkirk12 months ago
From saying Petreus wont issue a summary or assessment to Petraeus suddenly issuing one. Can one really believe this Administration?
Reply -
-
0%
tkyrchncs12 months ago
I am a Democrat, and I would call the General's assesment of the military situation accurate. When our nation sends a commander on a mission we rely on his abilities and his truthfulness in reporting back to us. The problem is not our ability to achieve almost any military feat we wish. It is that we are trying to fix a leaky faucet with a sledge hammer. The difficulties we face with terrorism are not military in nature and have no military solutions. Bring our troops home now. They are being improperly employed because their military might is not solving our problems or Iraq's.
Reply -
0%
PapaWolf12 months ago
secondchance
>>If Bill Clinton was still our president and if General Petraeus was under Clinton's command.... the dems would have beleived ever word General Petraeus said
You're wrong. If Pagraeus was supposed to give an OBJECTIVE report and ended up parroting Clinton's politically-motivated rhetoric the way he parroted Bush, I'd be saying the exact same thing...
Especially if Clinton failed as badly as Bush has over the past 6 years.
Reply
-
0%
tkyrchncs12 months ago
Not on this day of all days! We need to recall why so many Americans died, and how craven and costly in money and lives and freedoms our responses have been. I am certain that many who perished are ashamed of us and disappointed that their deaths have been used as an excuse for so much foolish pain and suffering.
Reply
-
-
0%
Natalie118312 months ago
The poll is similar to the president's dire approval ratings.
Does anyone remember this story FOUR years ago?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/01/iraq/...
Reply-
0%
Radiofreeeuropa12 months ago
Hi Natalie,
Oh yes. That dressing up like a soldier and the cod piece in particular made the faithful swoon in the presence of such pretend authoritarianism. The war was over in a couple days since no one really fought back and the country had been defeated only a few years ago. But the occupation since has been disastrous.
I don't understand what winning is in Iraq. Whether the military leaves today or 14 years from now the puppet government will fall. Sectarian violence will continue. The outcome is no different. The U.S. will not get it's western style democracy and whoever they prop up will either be removed by the Iraqi's themselves. or just like with Saddam, the troops will be called upon to remove him in the not so distant future.
Reply
-
-
0%
Radiofreeeuropa12 months ago
The poll is on the right hand side of the story.
Although these web polls are not 100 percent accurate they do give an indication of the general feelings of people.
Obviously those who don't have internet access are not included and there are other issues as well. But still it is what it is.
Reply -
0%
Obaku12 months ago
Maybe in six month, Petraeus can call Colin Powell and get some tips on how to rehabilitate his image, after making a complete jackass of himself on live television broadcast worldwide.
Reply -
0%
DarkWizard12 months ago
Ok...I'm going to attempt to find the positive points in this article.
1) By August 2008, the American force in Iraq would be down to 15 combat brigades,
2) Gen. David H. Petraeus and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki are in agreement, and
3) security in Iraq has improved.
See, I'm not always a raving cynic.
Reply -
0%
jdhatl12 months ago
Like he could possibly say that the war isn't going well. we've turned the country into a hellhole, pretty much destroying any hope for the continuance of the artificially constructed but long-standing nation of Iraq. This makes Yugoslavia look like a love-in. I think all non-Arabic speaking US personnel should be removed at once. Which is the vast majority of them. The rest might be able to do some good, without the appropriate language skills there's not much you can really accomplish.
Reply -
0%
wallyone12 months ago
i could not give a crap what he says.. when he is gone there are more to take his place.. get the hell out of iraq.. and rational in regards to staying is just that rationalization. i have always thought from day one bush was the dumbest man on the planet and now there is no doubt.. those who follow him are suspect too.
Reply -
0%
STILLWATER0012 months ago
This war is the main reason for changing the face of america and its way of life! I understand now.
Reply -
0%
GrainOfSand12 months ago
The face of America changed forever on 9/11/01. The Bushites used this tragedy to go to war with Iraq. Bush squandered the world's sympathy and turned it into antipathy and resentment because the rest of the world and the majority of the American people realized they have been lied to for 6 years.
Mission Accomplished? What happened to that message? WE ARE STILL THERE! HELLO?
Does anyone actually think that General would say anything detrimental to Bush's mission? It quite obvious that the war is NOT EVEN close to being accomplished. They don't WANT it to be accomplished.
"Give me just a little more time." as the song goes.....they want the war to be endless so Cheney and his greedy corporate types can make more money off the death of US Soldiers and more death and destruction of Iraq and it's people.
Reply -
0%
2sidestoeverything12 months ago
Does the General Petraeus testimony change your mind? No, we should not have been there in the first place. BL caused 9/11 and all our efforts should have been on catching him.
Reply -
0%
medic91b212 months ago
I watched the general and the ambasador give their report on c-span and in my opinion think that both cherry picked information to give to the joint panal. Compared to both the GAO and the Gen. Jones reports they glossed over a lot areas from the refugees that number over 4 million, to the national and local police, to corruption, both reports stated that the army can not win this war. What really worries me is that the people that got us here do not want to be held accountable, they wrap themselves in the flag and keep telling the same lies over and over again, polictical leaders in both houses are using this as game for power and that is all there is to it
Reply -
0%
getreal112 months ago
No! They want their own way of life. We need to take control of the money suckers and start with their assets from the gains they reap with their ill gotten schemes. Which by the way has caused a lot of hardship here as well. We should start with the Banking systems. They recieve too much for the services that they render. The very things such as laws that go against the protection of our country as a whole need to be changed. Right Now the Mexican (spanish) are jetting the country side in trucks, with God only knows what, for their own take over. World trade has shifted the very things that other countries used to make for a living and impoverished their peoples. Just as it is doing to the US.
Reply -
-
0%
engineer12 months ago
Considering what happened to his predecessor, if he doesn't support Bush1t, he'll be fired!!
Reply -
0%
aniokly12 months ago
Gen Patraeus testimony did not change my mind. I talk to people coming back from Iraq, and they are saying the same thing, we cannot cut, and run, we will prevail if we don't let the Democrats in Congress surrender. Believe me if their approval rating was nearly as good as the President's "dire rating" they would have cut, and run alredy. Year's ago the Democrats called Ollie North to testify before them, and he cut them every way but loose, and the General did the same thing yesterday. He made them look cheap, and cowardly.
Reply-
0%
mcgrievysr12 months ago
aniokly----"I talk to people coming back from Iraq, and they are saying the same thing, we cannot cut, and run"
analoinky, who are you talking to? Corporate contractors?
Reply-
0%
bruhaha12 months ago
THey will almost never give you an answer about who they "talk" to. That being said, who you talk to can have a large bearing on what type of answer you get. What were their responsibilities in Iraq. Someone who spends all their time in the green zone may have a different view of what's going on in the country than someone who's been out on patrols, etc.
Reply -
0%
TOD39612 months ago
Why are you doubting ani? I too, have talked with PFC's and regular soldiers and they all state the same sentiment. We need to be there at this point in time. When the troops say these things, and people like you try to discredit them, it is the same as dishonoring the troops. Viet nam all over again. Didn't anyone learn anything from Viet Nam? What exactly does "Support the troops" mean to you? Telling them they are liars after they give first hand knowledge of a war that they have engaged in? And where is your first hand knowledge? From a boob tube and slanted websites like this one, that's where. If I have a choice as to who to believe, I will choose the troops who have been there, over the armchair quarterbacks like you, anyday.
Reply
-
-
0%
white-pawn12 months ago
Prevail at what? Stealing peoples natural resources? Bombing villages, kicking in doors and holding innocent people hostage while we torture them at Abu Ghraib?
Here's a good exit strategy for you: Appologize profusely, provide funds and manpower to rebuild the country and promise to never again engage in an illegal war of aggression again and scale back the military-industrial complex.
Reply -
0%
PapaWolf12 months ago
>>we will prevail
As many see it, we have only a few options:
1) Support the Shi'ia gov't that, if it wins, will be Pro-Iranian. According to Bush, anything pro-Iranian is bad
2) Support the Sunni insurgents who have been trying to drive us out of their country for years. They're also trying to cleanse their villages & towns of anything Shi'ia - which would result in a bloodbath if they win.
3) Support the Shi'ia militias, which are doing the same things as the Sunni's. But we'd have the added pleasure of having another Pro-Iranian group in charge.
Take your pick.
BTW, if you take Option 1, you need to remember that the police force has been infiltrated by the Shi'ia militias. So, with opt 1 you also get opt 3.
Reply -
0%
questionseverything12 months ago
annie,petraous does remind me a lil of ollie north,but instead of bringing in cocaine as north did to fund the rebels,petraous is allowing herion to be grown in afghanistan
i often wonder if the govtment isnt busting the pot users to make it unavailable so they start "harder" drugs,they have certainly made sure its available
Reply-
0%
TOD39612 months ago
Ah yes, here we go. You got it all figured out. The government has taken the inititive to stop all pot users from obtaining pot, so that they have to go to heroin. Wow, you are really on to something there. I suggest you go down to your local police department and let them know that you have it all figured out and that the jig is up. And when they get upi off the floor from laughing, you just let them know that you have proof. You do have proof, don't you?
Reply
-
-
-
0%
white-pawn12 months ago
So the general gave himself a gold star on his progress report of himself. I bet Brownie though he was really doing a heckuva job too. I'm not buying it. At best, our illegal invasion and takeover of their resources is going a touch more smoothly now that we've added more muscle.
Reply -
0%
Radiofreeeuropa12 months ago
It seems to me there was no "plan" whatsoever regarding what was to be done after the initial invasion of Iraq. It looks like 6 years later they are scrambling to pretend there is a plan now. Though I never believed there was a shred of legitimacy to this invasion, if Iraq could be "fixed" by continued military operations perhaps it would be legitimate to stay. But I see no evidence of this, the Iraq government the U.S. has thrown treasure and blood into supporting took the entire month off. Civil war? Let's play some croquet.
Reply-
0%
bruhaha12 months ago
There was no plan. We would be welcomed with flowers. We'd set up a neocon dreamland with contractors and private corporations running everything, a limited government set up only to provide security and law enforcement, laws designed to benefit the corporations, and no social safety net, no unions, worker protections, environmental regulations, etc. etc.
And to rebuild, did they hire locals...no, of course not...they brought in Halliburton, etc who employed foreigners (from africa, asia, and other locations) to "rebuild" the country.
And we wonder why many Iraqi's hate us. I mean, geez, look at all the uproar about illegal immigrants (i.e. mexicans, etc) taking our jobs in the US.
Reply
-
-
0%
dotsie_d12 months ago
It's such nonsense. To have us rollback to a current level of a previous level is such a complete Bush strategy that I can't stand it. There never has been a plan to Afghanistan (thus we haven't caught Bin Laden) nor a plan to Iraq (except to contract out to Halliburton) so it's all crap to me. It's going to take us years to undo the damage caused by this maniac (Bush), who is more terrorist than Al Quaeda ever hoped to be.
Reply -
0%
not2needy12 months ago
I think General Petraeus said exactly what he was told and rehearsed to say. HOWEVER!...
Suddenly, after all these years of OBL not being a priority to Bush, and we HAD to go into Iraq because Saddam had WMD, and AlQuada had to be put on the back burner, NOW, the news is full of how OBL and AlQuada is more powerful than ever, how they have built up their army of terrorists and that we are no safer now than we were. WHY! Because Bush had to go into Iraq to finish what Daddy couldn't.
Now suddenly OBL and AlQuada are a priority again, more scare tactics,,, If OBL and AlQuada are so powerful why don't we go after them instead of trying to shove democracy down the throats of the Iraqi people?
Reply -
0%
aniokly12 months ago
I am in contact with men, and women returning from, and leaving for another tour in Iraq, and they believe in what they are doing. And they are right. But even little Katie Coucic, and her ilk, are returnimg from the front with good news about what we are doing. It is you bush bashers, and Anti-war people who are misinformed, but what's new. Half the Democrats lie, and the other half swear to it, and you simple folks hang on every word.
Reply-
0%
Dionys12 months ago
Attack the people, not the facts. Typical RepugnantCon tactic.
The fact is that Petraeus lied, his figures are all skewed because they "redefined" what certain words meant and the "war" in Iraq has gone south. "Little Katie Couric and her ilk" were taken by the hand and led to the "good places" that the US government wanted them to see. If you can't see that, then you're even more stupid than you seem. Then again you probably voted for Bush.
Reply -
0%
medic91b211 months, 4 weeks ago
aniokly, I've also talked to people coming back and going back for yet another tour, some from my own family and from very close friends, for me all it takes is to look in their eyes to tell me what is going on I know that look very well. you make statements that at its very core are flawed, I listen and read newspapers... shows with different points of view to get an overall picture of what is fact and what is bs. The general said on the record that the white house did NOT have his testamony yet before he want to the hill the white house were putting out statements almost word for word that he did not delivered yet, thats a fact. Other people are worried that troops are going back 2,3 times you don't YOU think that something is wrong?
Reply
-
