September 16, 2007

Anyone at 1600 Penn. Part of the "Brain Trust"?

SEN. INHOFE: Ambassador Crocker, you talked about some of the economy victories that were there. You talked about the markets, about the kids, and the playgrounds, and these things. Some of us have been there and gone through the markets and so we know that those successes are very real.

And I have to say that -- to apologize to the two of you for what you've had to undergo. The move on.org was bad enough, but I think we know what's behind that. But when my old friend, Tom Lantos, came out and says, we cannot take any of this administration's assertions about Iraq seriously anymore. No amounts, charts, or statistics will increase its credibility.

I think it's appropriate for you to repeat something you're probably tired of repeating, and that is the report that you brought to us and to the American people and to Congress that you've been able to articulate in the last couple of days, just explain -- one more time, tell us the genesis of that report.

Who put it together and who's responsible for that it?

GEN. PETRAEUS: Senator, I've got a brain trust of bright guys. They wrote two drafts of it. And I took control of the electrons last week or two weeks ago and basically rewrote it and wrote that myself.

Obviously, I shared it back and forth with them, but what I delivered here today was very much, by and large, my testimony. And it certainly had not been cleared with nor even shared with anyone.

SEN. INHOFE: With the Pentagon or the White House?

GEN. PETRAEUS: With the Pentagon or Congress.

Is it just me, or does one get the sense the White House got to eye-ball a little advance copy here and there?

More here:

Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

And though Petraeus and Crocker will present their recommendations on Capitol Hill, legislation passed by Congress leaves it to the president to decide how to interpret the report's data.

The senior administration official said the process had created "uncomfortable positions" for the White House because of debates over what constitutes "satisfactory progress."

During internal White House discussion of a July interim report, some officials urged the administration to claim progress in policy areas such as legislation to divvy up Iraq's oil revenue, even though no final agreement had been reached. Others argued that such assertions would be disingenuous.

"There were some in the drafting of the report that said, 'Well, we can claim progress,' " the administration official said. "There were others who said: 'Wait a second. Sure we can claim progress, but it's not credible to . . . just neglect the fact that it's had no effect on the ground.'"