Washington Post; Petraeus “dismayed” and “disappointed”

On the front internet page of the Washington Post this morning, it announces that General Petraeus is “dismayed” at the political state of Iraq. Click to the story and he changes from “dismayed” to “disappointed” in the Michael Abramowitz and Karen DeYoung (hereafter referred to as “the usual suspects”) story;

In a preview of his report to Congress next week, Gen. David H. Petraeus yesterday expressed disappointment in the lack of progress toward political reconciliation in Iraq. Administration officials said he wants to return to Washington for another assessment in six months to allow more time for Iraqi politics to catch up with what Petraeus regards as rapidly improving security conditions.

Writing to his troops, the top U.S. commander in Iraq emphasized that violence there had diminished in eight of the last 11 weeks. But while “many of us had hoped this summer would be a time of tangible political progress,” Petraeus said in a letter addressed to “Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians” serving in Iraq that “it has not worked out as we had hoped.”

Well, luckily for those of us who actually pay attention, the Washington Post includes a .pdf file of the actual letter – but the average reader will just let the usual suspects explain the story to them.

The tone of the letter to his troops (I’ve uploaded the .pdf to this website in the event that WaPo takes the link down as is their wont) is quite different than that portayed in the usual suspect’s story. The letter praises the troops accomplishments over the last two months, and warns them of the difficulty in the days ahead – moreso than an expression of “dismay” or even “disappointment”.

It appears that the Washington Post and specially these two usual suspects are worried that the reports we’re going to hear next week will change public opinion about the progress in this war, and the opinion of this President’s conduct of the war in particular, so they’re getting out ahead of the report to undermine the truth with their weasel words. 

Category: Media, Politics, Terror War