Ronalfy.com — The Personal Website of Ronald Huereca

This week, United States Army General Petraeus testified in front of Congress that the US is making gains in Iraq and that we can actually pull some troops out (about 30,000) by mid-2008.

MoveOn.org has called Petraeus’s testimony a betrayal to the country and that he has fabricated the figures to make the White House look good:

General Petraeus testified in front of Congress that we are making progress in Iraq. He won’t admit what everyone knows: Iraq is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war. He is just trying to cook the books for the White House. So we are running an ad in the New York Times.

You can see the ad for yourself (pdf). Petraeus states, however, that his views are his alone and not the Pentagon’s or the White House’s.

MoveOn is clearly biased and is basing most of its accusations on statistics gathered from multiple sources, none of which have direct on-the-ground intel. Petraeus had this to say on the MoveOn critique and stats:

Some of it was just flat, completely wrong. The rest was at least more than arguable.

To see for yourself what General Petraeus presented to Congress, please check out these two files:

• Petraeus’s Slides to Congress (pdf)
• Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq – Petraeus (pdf)

Although I can’t defend Petraeus’s stats, I have to at least have faith that a man on the ground in Iraq knows a hell of a lot more than a left-wing organization who’s hiding behind Washington Post and Associated Press reports. Furthermore, who is to argue that a General is betraying his country? Isn’t that defamation?

I agree with the views of one of my readers who has stated that accusing the General of betraying his country is treasonous conduct:

I cannot believe what moveon.org will be able to get away with. Impugning the integrity of any officer of the United States military without some proof of wrong doing should be punishable as treason, especially in time of war (or millitary action, as is the case in Iraq). To accuse a serving member of the military of betraying his country while he is serving said country on foreign soil is one of the worst, non-lethal actions I can think of we could condone.

I do not believe General Petraeus betrayed the United States. If anything, organizations such as MoveOn are the ones betraying the American public.

Thank you for reading.

Related posts:

1. Five Political Issues That Must Be Solved Now
2. 500 Words – The Troops Should Stay in Iraq
3. Should We Let Illegals Into the Military?
4. Blog Rerun – The Iraq War
5. 500 Words – Iraq is Beyond the Global War on Terror