or am i missing something?

As the WSWS wrote today:

What has emerged most clearly through the past several months of official debate in Washington over the Iraq war is the political role of the Democratic Party itself. Having won control of Congress thanks to overwhelming popular hostility to Bush and the Republicans over the war, it has postured as the voice of this popular discontent, while all the while pursuing a policy of supporting the war's continuation. Since the November election, the Democrats' actions have served primarily to divert and contain popular opposition to the war, while lending Bush's policy a mantle of legitimacy by making it appear that there exists no realistic alternative.

Such an alternative can emerge only from outside the political establishment and both major parties in the form of an independent political movement of working people against war and the political parties and social interests that support it.

Regarding "Petraeus: Pre-surge level by July" (A1, Sept. 11):

Gen. David H. Petraeus behaved as a good employee: He gave his boss what he wanted. However, he forgot his ultimate bosses are the citizens of the United States. He lied to us. Independent assessments of the war show markedly different numbers. Did you know deaths by car bombs don't get counted in? Try telling that to the families of soldiers killed that way! If you have seen interviews of Iraqis, they want us to go away. Any side you pick just wants us out. So why not save a huge number of our kids' lives and get out now? More of our kids have died this year compared with last year, no matter what month you look at. The surge has not worked and we need to get what remains of our armed forces out as fast as we can.

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JOAN L. RAPHAEL
San Diego

I'm not encouraged by Gen. Petraeus' presentation to Congress. Following his recommendations, five years after our blunder into Iraq we will still have over 130,000 troops in Iraq with no end in sight. The surge was intended to provide time for Iraqi political reconciliation. Clearly, it has failed to meet that objective.

Every independent assessment has stated that there is no military solution in Iraq. We must have a dramatic course change. Why not get our military off the streets and focus on building and protecting infrastructure. Provide the Iraqis with reliable electricity and safe drinking water. Begin a serious political effort to enlist the help of Iraq's neighbors. It's in their best interest to not let Iraq collapse. I'm not playing arm chair general; I'm just reading the independent reports.

The biggest change I want to see is for George Bush to admit that invading Iraq was a mistake. We broke that country and opened a hornets' nest

PETE BABICH
Poway

It seems extraordinary to me that the media, the Congress and the public have fallen for the exact same con game a second time. Repetition of the "surge is working" does not make it true. Violence has increased not decreased. Faulty numbers, like excluding deaths from car bombs, has the general repeating the type of deception that Colin Powell told in his speech to the United Nations. When will the media stop repeating blatant falsehoods and start questioning the information the public is given?

NORMA FERRARA
San Diego

By using the current administration logic, the surge is working. Fatalities from car bombs don't count and assassinations only count if they are shot in the back of the head, not the front. Subtract those deaths from the real total and yes, the surge is working. The administration just failed second-grade math; it tried to cheat.

GEORGE C. HAMILTON
San Diego

Watching this report on TV reminds me of the report given by another famous general named Colin Powell before the United Nations in the lead-up to the Iraq war, which was based on "cooked books." Considering this and the trumped-up testimony of the generals who testified before Congress about the Vietnam conflict, why should we give any extra credence to military leaders who come to testify? The record shows they can be bought and sold.

As a retired Navy CPO and World War II vet, I am appalled that the leaders who I have "put on a pedestal" all my life can be compromised.

DONALD WEBB
San Diego

With this latest report by Gen. Petraeus, the Bush administration has just kicked the can farther down the road. The promises of meeting benchmarks has been thrown out the window. We can all see that it is just stalling techniques, one after another. It is becoming evident that the promises of this lame duck president are indeed lame. How many more American and Iraqi lives need to be shamelessly spent on a war that cannot be won? How much more money can we afford to throw at this bottomless pit? How much lower in world opinion can we sink before our government, our wonderful system of checks and balances, begins to work and answers the call of the American people to end this war as quickly as possible?

The Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, which he introduced with Reps. Thompson and Murphy, did not call for ALL troops to be out.

As Senator Obama said at the time:

"Our troops have preformed brilliantly in Iraq, but no amount of American soldiers can solve the political differences at the heart of somebody else's civil war," Senator Obama said. "That's why our plan not only stops the escalation of this war, but begins a phased redeployment that can pressure the Iraqis to finally reach a political settlement and brings all U.S. combat troops home by March of next year."

a. It's two months later.
b. There were 162,000 troops in Iraq in July '07
c. There are 172,000 troops in Iraq now or in the immediate future (aprox. 3 more  brigades)

It's two months later, it will take an additional 3 months to get out the troops added in the surge, therefore April 30 + 5 months equals November 1st.

Even with some of the Repubs now sounding like they're fed up with the "same old same old" approach of Bush/Petreaus, we've heard that before only to have the votes say otherwise.