WH says President never told the military to, 'Give me three (Iraq) drawdown plans'.”

[bigtree]

US: Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story on Pullout Plans

by Gareth Porter

{snip}

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 The political maneuvering between President Barack Obama and his top field commanders over withdrawal from Iraq has taken a sudden new turn with the leak by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus - and a firm denial by a White House official - of an account of the Jan. 21 White House meeting suggesting that Obama had requested three different combat troop withdrawal plans with their respective associated risks, including one of 23 months.

The Petraeus account, reported by McClatchy newspapers Feb. 5 and then by the Associated Press the following day, appears to indicate that Obama is moving away from the 16-month plan he had vowed during the campaign to implement if elected. But on closer examination, it doesn't necessarily refer to any action by Obama or to anything that happened at the Jan. 21 meeting.


. . . a White House official told IPS Monday that the Petraeus account was untrue. ”The assessments of the three drawdown dates were not requested by the president,” said the official, who insisted on not being identified because he had not been authorised to comment on the matter. ”He never said, 'Give me three drawdown plans'.”

McClatchy's Nancy Youssef reported a similar account from aides to Obama. ”Obama told his advisors shortly after taking office that he remained committed to the 16-month timeframe,” Youssef wrote, ”but asked them to present him with the pros and cons of that and other options, without specifying dates.”

That suggests that the only specific plan for which Obama requested an assessment of risks was the 16-month plan, but that he agreed to look at other plans as well.


read: http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5096:us-petraeus-leaked-misleading-story-on-pullout-plans&catid=71:world-news&Itemid=30

[Avalux]

1. If true, Betrayus needs to be demoted. NOW.

Sick and tired of that smary little ass kisser.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Betrayus needs to be demoted to Sergeant. NOW.

Obama could do that, boy would that make waves

[babylonsister]

2. Pretty damned bold of Petraeus if he's spreading falsehoods. I hope

he gets a talking to. x(

[EFerrari]

3. I knew it. Petraeus is a corrupt bastard and we can't believe anything

we read about the drawdown without checking and rechecking. Don't fall for the disinfo.

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. Petraeus wears his medals like Soviet General... My dad

had more real medals and never really wore than.
unless told to.



Gen. Marshall was more of soldier than Petraeus was any day.

[EFerrari]

10. The guy next under him was implicated in illegal arms dealing.

I only remember one story right around the time we were told to "wait" for the "Petaeus report" and then, nothing later.

He's dirty and no number of medals can cut that smell coming off of him. :shrug:

[jtrockville]

4. Petraeus (aka "Bush's yes man") should GO.

Petraeus told Bush what he wanted to hear, when he wanted to hear it. He's Bush's yes man. He's Bush's echo chamber.

Why is he still around?

[Radical Activist]

5. Yeah, like I wrote at the time.

The article as obviously a plant to influence the debate.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5009740&mesg_id=5010078

[Schema Thing]

7. wtf is Gareth Porter and wtf is australia.to?

[bigtree]

8. google is your friend

"Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on U.S. national security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has written regularly for Inter Press Service on U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005."

Dr. Porter was both a Vietnam specialist and an anti-war activist during the Vietnam War and was Co-Director of Indochina Resource Center in Washington. Dr. Porter taught international studies at City College of New York and American University. He was the first Academic Director for Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Washington Semester program at American University.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gareth-porter