The September Report

Seems the all important report on Iraq due in September from Gen. David H. Petraeus might not exactly be written by him. It also sounds like it might not even be delivered by him. This from the Post article:

Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration’s progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense.

Dan Froomkin has a interesting article on how Bush made Petraeus his man in Iraq and how Bush was going to rely on Petraeus for suggestions on what to do there.

I guess the question to ask is why bother giving a report at all. The whole idea of the report, at least that’s the impression I got, was to have an independent voice. To have someone on the ground give a candid and frank assessment of what is going on in Iraq. To highlight what’s been working and at the same time point out what is not working. It looks like the report is going to be the same old BS on Iraq that Americans have received from this administration for the last four years.

It points out that there will be no change by the Bush Administration on Iraq as long as Bush is in office.