September 10, 2007

The Petraeus/Crocker Report: Let the Liveblogging Continue! (Part Two)

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


This is Part Two of our liveblogging. Part One is here.

1:29: Petraeus finally gets going. Shocker number one: the surge is succeeding militarily.

1:32: Petraeus cites the progress with the Sunni tribes, which we’ve already noted started before the surge began and is unrelated to increased troop numbers.

1:33: It’s the Iraqis fault that their country is in chaos. Apparently competition between ethnic groups is the cause of violence in Iraq. Also Iran and Syria are making it worse.

1:35: General Petraeus, the “Ross Perot of the military,” loves his charts.

1:36: They used non-kinetic means, apparently.

1:37: “We do not rely on gut feel.” What’s he doing working for The Decider?

1:40: OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH pretty pictures! The man really loves his charts.

1:41: They’ve found and cleared over 4,100 caches of weapons and bombs this year. How many of the 180,000 missing guns did they find?

1:42: Anbar again. Again, it has nothing to do with the surge.

1:43: A steady decline in the past three months sounds impressive, but attacks always decline as the weather gets hotter during the summer.

1:44: Iran wants to use insurgents in Iraq as a proxy force to attack coalition forces. Also, more protesters just got kicked out for yelling.

1:45: Anbar again! And Petraeus acknowledges it is “unique.”

1:47: More charts!

1:48: 445,000 people “on the payrolls” of the Iraqi security forces. How many of them actually show up to work? How many of them are real?

1:49: Sounds like he’s wrapping up now… “to summarize…. the United States will be in a position to reduce its forces in Iraq in the months ahead.”

1:52: Petraeus is proposing a draw-down to pre-surge levels by mid-July 2008. And then we can use the extra forces to attack Iran!!!

1:53: Projecting “too far into the future” is difficult and misleading.

1:54: In mid-March, he’ll come back and ask for another Friedman unit.

1:56: Petraeus wants to keep the mission the same — “counterinsurgency and stabilization”

1:57: He believes Iraq’s problems need a “long-term effort,” and warns against a rapid withdrawal. How long-term?

1:59: Hooray for the military-industrial complex! More defense funding now!

2:00: Someone starts screaming: “General Petraeus, the American people don’t believe you anymore!” They’re really loud. Cindy Sheehan was among those arrested earlier, according to Brian Williams.

2:01: Skelton announces that “We will prosecute [protesters] under the law. This is intolerable…. And I hope that everything that’s considering it understands, because they will be prosecuted.”

Go to Part Three.

—Nick Baumann

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate