General Patraeus Speech today: White House Spin or Accurate Assessment?

Question

Your opinion?

Answer 1

It was a good sober assessment. He does not strike me as a man who blows smoke.

He is a warrior, he is tasked with victory, he is also a tough guy, and it's sad to see so many physically and mentally weaker sycophants try to tear him down.

Answer 2

Like it or not, it is his job to report the facts to his superiors.  He has been doing that his entire career.  It is not his job to blow smoke up his boss's butt, not even if there are 356 of them, particularly not then.

He has a job to do in Iraq and the politicians called him back to the states to make the report.  It is sad that one of those decided he was "dead flat wrong" before he even began to report on his job back in Iraq.

Answer 3

The guy has a reputation as a 'straight shooter.'  What is frightening is all of the people who simply refused to listen to what he says because of their political opinions.

Even more frightening is the number of people who think that the military is going to put a partisan spin on their reports.

Answer 4

I think it was spin, and the number of troops coming home are a token to his own party which is beginning to revolt against him.  It's obvious that Bush's strategy to keep the troops in Iraq until his term ends...and it's obvious that the General was just following orders to leave it that way!  Americans are not as gullible as they once were...questioning the motives of this administration has become much more common.

Answer 5

White House Spin on a keneral of truth. At least they will roll back surge i thought Boy George was gonna send more troops at least its tinsy step in right direction of getting out of that h**l hole

Answer 6

This General is a trooper general.

He listens to the men doing the fighting.

I would believe him, not what goes on in congress.

Answer 7

I believe it was his own honest assessment as he sees it .

Answer 8

His accurate assessment.  There is too much at stake to try and spin the message.  Now remember this is his assessment.  It might not be right, but this is now he sees it.

Answer 9

Only truth comes from  my lips.....hahaha!

Answer 10

I believe it was accurate. He is not a politician and spin his words. He is an honorable man. Honorable men do not sell out to politicians. Politicians(majority) are not honorable and will sell out to the highest donor(Clintons). The longer they are in politics they more they spin. Read Michael Yon's reports online. His reports are eye opening.

Answer 11

Probably a little of both. General Petraeus seemed sincere in his views and was refreshingly forthright in a few areas. That being said however, when you start the numbers game with all the charts and such, one can easily be mislead. It's kinda like when they announce that the economy is doing fine one day, the next you hear home foreclosures are at a record high and personal bankruptcies etc. at record levels. I love when they announce how many jobs have been created in the quarter, you never hear of how many were lost in the same period. But, I digress, Petraeus is a career soldier and no career soldier would want to make himself or what he has done look bad so the report from last week from the non-partisan GAO report painted a far less optimistic picture. Which do i believe? A little of both..