There have been plenty of predictions as to what the Petraeus report will be tomorrow. We've plenty of evidence that Petreaus will be claiming that the "surge" is working and that if we just stick it out for another few years everything in Iraq will be hunky dory and we will have beaten the bad guys.
I think the evidence that they will continue the lies concerning the success of the "surge" is overwhelming and I don't know that anybody's predictions on that score will be wrong.
But I suspect there will be more to the testimony over the next two days that I haven't seen predicted.
It's all about Iran.
We have seen over the past few months a ratcheting up of rhetoric about what to do about "the Iran problem." It seems, also, that this administration really wants to hit Iran in some way militarily. I would assume massive bombing and such. It's obvious the US can't outright invade Iran right now.
I expect that Petreaus will bring some attempt to sell the attack of Iran in his testimony.
And it seems that the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal will be helping with that product rollout, with the help of Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman:
Listen To Petreaus from Monday's Wall Street Journal:
We must also recognize that the choice we face in Iraq is not between the current Iraqi government and a perfect Iraqi government. Rather, it is a choice between a young, imperfect, struggling democracy that we have helped midwife into existence, and the fanatical, al Qaeda suicide bombers and Iranian-sponsored terrorists who are trying to destroy it. If Washington politicians succeed in forcing a premature troop withdrawal in Iraq, the result will be a more dangerous world with our enemies emboldened. As Iran's president recently crowed, "soon we will see a huge power vacuum in the region . . . [and] we are prepared to fill the gap."
Whatever the shortcomings of our friends in Iraq, they are no excuse for us to retreat from our enemies like al Qaeda and Iran, who pose a mortal threat to our vital national interests. We must understand that today in Iraq we are fighting and defeating the same terrorist network that attacked on 9/11. As al Qaeda in Iraq continues to be hunted down and rooted out, and the Iraqi Army continues to improve, the U.S. footprint will no doubt adjust. But these adjustments should be left to the discretion of Gen. Petraeus, not forced on our troops by politicians in Washington with a 6,000-mile congressional screwdriver, and, perhaps, an eye on the 2008 election.
Emphasis added.
I expect the story of the next two days will be more about Iran than about Iraq.
We should be prepared for that.
Update:I posted this quickly, which is probably obvious, because it just struck me and I though it important. But after re-reading my diary I realized just how insane this Op-ed is. They aren't just conflating Iraq with 9/11 and al Qaeda. They are conflating Iraq with 9/11, al Qaeda and Iran. This is the next step.
phat