Durbin: Iraq report 'manipulated'
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Days before Gen. David Petraeus testifies before Congress on the progress of the troop "surge" in Iraq, the Senate's number two Democrat is accusing the administration of manipulating information in its highly anticipated Iraq report that will be released next week.
"By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said at a Washington think tank.
Durbin, a war critic, said that for a long period of time he has exchanged e-mail with civilian employees who were gathering data for the report and writing draft portions of the findings.
"Some of them I correspond with almost on a daily basis. And when they sent a discouraging report about things that were happening in Baghdad, they were reminded by their superiors that's unacceptable; we need a positive report. They were sent back for editing changes. Now that's a fact," Durbin said.
Petraeus is expected to testify next week that the troop buildup has produced progress on the ground.
In recent days, congressional Democrats have engaged in a coordinated effort to minimize the impact of the testimony, which could undermine their ability to convince wavering Republicans to vote for troop withdrawals.
Also on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid got personal, questioning Petraeus' credibility:
"He's made a number of statements over the years that have not proved to be factual," Reid said. "I have every belief that this good man, General Petraeus, will give us what he feels is the right thing to do in the report that is now not his report. It's President Bush's report."
"My guess is that it's an attempt to discredit the witness," a Senate Republican leadership aide responded to the Democrats' broadsides. "The problem is Petraeus' approval rating is about four times higher than the Democrat Congress."
The statistics that Durbin is questioning deal with the accounting of sectarian violence - which Petraeus is expected to report has gone down in recent months.
But in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday, David Walker, the head of the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, also raised questions about how those statistics were compiled. He said he is "not comfortable" with the methodology used to count the death toll from sectarian violence.
Specifically, he said he questions the fact that if a body is found with a gunshot wound in the front of the head it is classified as an ordinary crime but if the wound is in the back of the head it is considered sectarian violence.
Walker said he would "fully expect" such a methodology would reflect a reduction in sectarian violence.
He said those statistics are kept by the Multi-National Force-Iraq, which is commanded by Petraeus. Noting that the details of methodology are classified, he urged senators to push for the information be made public.
- CNN's Dana Bash and Ted Barrett
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Sen. Durbin is another one heavily invested in defeat in Iraq. It's almost as if bad things happening to America would be good for Democratic candidates. Just ask Rep. Jim Clyburn.
To: Tim, Cincinnati, OH
What if those emails are true, does that not concern you that people are being told to redo Iraq intel reports?
Bush and his pals have a record of talking out of both sides of their mouths. Just peruse this: We are told that terrorism is something to be feared so we give up the rights and freedoms untold U S military men and women have died to protect. Next, we have a gaping hole in our borders which even the most uneducated transgressor can pass through. Next, we have the North American Superhighway, which Bush supports additionally compromising our sovereignty. All espoused by Bush as needful. I get a headache just listening to those dimwits who think I'm equal in intelligence to themselves. By virtue of the fact that it is an administration statement or report,,, it is by definition a lie.
Why would anyone think anything other than the fact that Petraeus's report would be manipulated by the White House? Remember, he is a General in the Army. Bush is the Commander-in-Chief. You tell your boss what he wants to hear, not always the truth. Petraeus falls in the same category as all of Bush's "good ole boys" that have led this country down the path of decadence. Lies, manipulation, fraud, illegalities, deception, greed, and many other attributes seem to be qualities of anyone that is associated with this administration. Thank God, we only have several more months to put up with this lunacy.
I'm sorry to say this, but the credibility of the impending Petraeus testimony was greatly tarnished when it was announced that the White House would be writing the report. The Administration has already set up a bitter partisan battle.
Petraeus was appointed with the full support of Congress. Now half are trying to assasinate his decorated charater. Is there any wonder why the Dems are considered weak on defense?
The Democrats have become the party of hate. That all consuming hatred that blinds you like a rabid dog. That is the party of Hillary and Obama that I see..
Tim, you're right. How dare THEY impugn the integrity of someone that Generalissimo Bush has chosen to hide behind. That would be so unlike that Profiles In Courage President to try & spin facts to suit his desired position.
Tim,
The report does not matter anymore. The White House has already made up their mind that we are gonna stick around in Iraq. We have been told to wait on this report for months now just so the administration has more time to come up with catch phrases such as "Mission Accomplished" and "in the last throws". More and more of our troops die each day and for what? The administration has shifted the reasons for being in Iraq so many times that I don't think they even remember why we are there. This is not a character asassination. We have to get out of Iraq now!!!
1. Is violence in Iraq down?
* Overall civilian deaths in all of Iraq have risen.
* The number of civilian deaths increased to 1,809 in August from 1,760 in July.
* The number of car bombings in July was 5 percent higher than in December 2006.
* May was the deadliest month in 2007, with 1,901 civilian deaths in comparison to 2,172 in December of 2006. ...
10. Has the quality of life improved for ordinary Iraqis?
* Iraq is ranked second in a list of the world’s most badly failing states.
* There are now more than 2.4 million Iraqi refugees living in the Middle East
* Militias are seizing control of electrical switching stations and using them to increase their military and political power.
* Iraq is only meeting 50 percent of electrical demand.
* 70 percent of Iraqis lack adequate water supplies, compared to 50 percent in 2003.
* The U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team program is under-funded, lacks clear objectives, suffers from repeated leadership changes, and has a staff of which 95 percent lack the cultural knowledge and Arabic-language skills needed to work with Iraqis.
* Oxfam says that one-third of the Iraqi population is in need of emergency aid.
* One quarter (28 percent) of Iraqi children are malnourished and 15 percent of the total population—4 million Iraqis—cannot buy enough food.
Unlike (likely) some of your posters, I'VE MET AL QUAEDA MEMBERS.
They are COMMITTED to killing "infidels" (non Salafists) no matter their diplomatic efforts.
Until the next, devastating attack, we lack the common identity AS AMERICANS and will to prevent it.
Our political and uniformed military leaders have made significant mistakes, no doubt. Republican, Democratic, civilian, political and career.
Our inability to join together to protect us all is only OUR fault.
we've barely flexed our biceps in Iraq, you creep Durbin. You compared our troops to Nazis, now you're calling them our "sons and daughters"?
p.s. Real Americans will never forgive you for calling our troops Nazis.
YOU CAN BET ON IT THAT THE WHITE HOUSE CAN AND WILL LIE ABOUT IT. IT WILL NOT BE THE GENERALS REPORT. IT WILL BE THE PACK OF LIES OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE. REMEMBER WE ARE KICKING ASS IN IRAQ, SO THE DECIDER SAYS. THIS WILL ALL BE ABOUT STAYING THE COURSE.JUST GIVE MORE AND MORE MONEY SO WE CAN STILL KICK BUT.BUT THE SURGE HAS NOT MADE ONE BIT OF DIFFERENCE EXCEPT WE HAVE MORE TROOPS TO BE KILLED. BUSH IS TOTALY INSANE.
To all the tree huggers:
The reason we are still fighting and funding still goes through (and will continue) is because the actions are needed. The newly elected Democrats finally took their head out of the clouds and looked at the evidence, maybe all you tree huggers can follow their lead.
And in related news, when pressed to explain why he believes the report will be fauly and biased, Durbin replied, "Uhhhh, because MoveOn.org said so."
You mean the administration might be actually LYING?? How is this even a "Bush-Patraeus" report? Isn't Patraeus just going to speak in private with Bush and then the WH writes its own report?? Poor Pat. is clearly a shill for this administration. If he actually went against the president's wishes, you can bet your bottom dollar he would be a retired general.
You mean this same Durbin? The one who compares our troops to the Nazi's, Soviets, and Pol Pot regimes. Give me a break. The propoganda coming from the Dems is truely anti-American and treasonous. These fake liberals are simply closet Communists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqIlXfkylD4
It is truly sad how the Defeatocrats are now spinning the information that will be released in a nagative fashion. These are the same people that voted 81 to 0 in the senate to confirm Petreaus.
Of course anything that comes across as a positive development must now be discounted or written off as wrong. These small-minded whiners can't stand to acknowledge anything positive in this war. They would rather pander to moveon.org and the rest of their far-left base than support positive developments.
Schumer's speech saying the surge had nothing to do with the succcess in Anbar province was typical of a party that wants to see us defeated in Iraq because they think it will get them more seats in the house and senate.
This is sad.
The Defeatocrats are reinforcing the truth that theirs is the party of weakness on defense of this country and higher taxes to support government pork.
Tim you can "feel" whatever you want,it does'nt make it true.That's the problem with right-wingers,they don't think,they "feel."Politics is for thinking,not feeling.Emotionally ruled brains have no business in the thinking world.
Why is a Senator having daily correspondence with people charged with official responsibilities in assessing and preparing reports for the executive branch of our government? Would daily contact indicate some attempt to influence the outcomes? Of course not, he's just an interested bystander.
Having a strong background in statistics, anyone can make anything favorable by easily manipulating data and how it is perceived. Bush has been manipulating statistics and information from the very beginning...getting us into this war. Now he is doing it to keep us there. The comment about congress having a lower approval rating is quite funny, given the fact that their approval rating being so low is because they cannot get us out of the war (due to Republican insistence that they made no mistake getting us involved). Petraeus is getting better approval because we do support our military and what they have been asked to do, and yet feel very sorry for what they have been asked to do.
I don't know how anyone could believe we have made success with all of the deaths going on over there on a daily basis. What complete nonsense and measurements are being used. There have been more Iraqi deaths there in a shorter time period since our surge was put into place. It's things like this that make me very tired of our current government.
I could be wrong but doesn't a bullet make holes on both sides? The most interesting thing to me is to see if Dick Cheney's lips move while the general is making his report, the more practice he's gotten since they faked the intel going into this war the better he gets at manipulating our government for his buddies to rake in the US dollars.
Hey Tim, you need to get a clue! What could be good news at this point? More people are getting shot in the front of the head? No matter how hard you grope for it, a war doesn't have good news, and this one just gets worse as our idiot president bumbles along trying to seem like he's going to win something.
Bush Administration officials such as the notorious VP have done it before. Perpetually trying to "sell" us or get us to buy into lies, misinformation, and financially motivated agendas.
I see no reason to doubt Dick Durbin's claim.