Parts of Iraq Report Are Grim Where Bush Was Upbeat
By JIM RUTENBERG
New York Times
WASHINGTON, July 13 — The mixed progress report on Iraq that the White House submitted to Congress this week included several grim assessments of the Iraqi government that contrasted with the more upbeat public statements of President Bush, his top aides and public White House briefing materials in the past few weeks.
In several recent cases, the White House discussed progress toward benchmarks that the review found unsatisfactory.
Two weeks ago, when a reporter asked Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, for “any signs they are making progress in any way,” he said, “We do know that they are obviously working toward oil law and distribution laws,” and added, “but it’s a parliamentary process.” The Americans and the Iraqis consider the proposed Iraqi law to distribute evenly oil revenues throughout the country to be a crucial salve for internal division.
When the reporter followed up by saying, “That doesn’t sound like any progress,” Mr. Snow responded, “It may not, but on the other hand, it could.”
A few weeks earlier, when a reporter traveling with Mr. Bush in Europe asked him if he had seen any progress toward national reconciliation in Iraq, he said, “Yes, look, they’re close to getting an oil deal done.”
(Continued here.)
New York Times
WASHINGTON, July 13 — The mixed progress report on Iraq that the White House submitted to Congress this week included several grim assessments of the Iraqi government that contrasted with the more upbeat public statements of President Bush, his top aides and public White House briefing materials in the past few weeks.
In several recent cases, the White House discussed progress toward benchmarks that the review found unsatisfactory.
Two weeks ago, when a reporter asked Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, for “any signs they are making progress in any way,” he said, “We do know that they are obviously working toward oil law and distribution laws,” and added, “but it’s a parliamentary process.” The Americans and the Iraqis consider the proposed Iraqi law to distribute evenly oil revenues throughout the country to be a crucial salve for internal division.
When the reporter followed up by saying, “That doesn’t sound like any progress,” Mr. Snow responded, “It may not, but on the other hand, it could.”
A few weeks earlier, when a reporter traveling with Mr. Bush in Europe asked him if he had seen any progress toward national reconciliation in Iraq, he said, “Yes, look, they’re close to getting an oil deal done.”
(Continued here.)
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1 Comments:
If the report is GRIM, just change what you report.
According to the LA Times that’s what Bush is doing now.
”Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that Baghdad residents could count on only "an hour or two a day" of electricity. That's down from an average of five to six hours a day earlier this year.
That’s bad news … but not if you don’t tell anyone … which is what the State Department has done as they stopped reporting that information in May.
Remember that the State Department is now headed by Condi Rice who on September 28, 2003 discussed electricity needs on Meet The Press "We did not have perfect foresight into what we were going to find in Iraq. The fact of the matter is that this deteriorated infrastructure, one that was completely covered and covered over by the gleaming pictures of Baghdad that made it look like a first-world city, what we’re learning now is that, for instance, the entire country had maybe 55 percent of the electrical generating power that it needed, …
As the LA Times article states the reliability of the electricity supply has long been seen by Iraqis as a key indicator of the success of the U.S. enterprise. Crocker told CBS News this month that electricity was "more important to the average Iraqi than all 18 benchmarks rolled up into one."
What an utter failure. Rice knew of the importance of electricity and now is covering up her failings.
How can any economic recovery be accomplished without reliable electricity? Without economic recovery, further violence will continue.
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