U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) issued the following statement during the testimony of General David Petraeus before the House Armed Services Committee:

“General Petraeus’ report to Congress was an utter disappointment.  Rather than deliver a credible assessment of the situation in Iraq, General Petraeus donned the President’s rose-colored glasses to report a partisan perspective that runs contrary to this federal government’s own independent analysis of America’s military and political accomplishment in Iraq.  

“The Petraeus report is just the latest smokescreen in this administration’s public relations campaign to distort the failed foreign policy it implemented to initiate and drive this war.

“The American people are tired of deception and gimmicky military maneuvers.   As conditions in Iraq grow deadlier and more costly, we demand immediate relief for our troops.  American casualties have grown fifty-six percent higher than in 2006.  264 U.S. troops were killed in July and August of 2007, marking the bloodiest summer since the start of the war.  Tax payers continue to pay $3,816 per second to fund the war.

“But instead of addressing such troubling figures, the administration has the audacity to highlight an alliance our military has developed in the sparsely populated Anbar province--home to a mere five percent of the total population.        

“Americans are not looking for reasons to keep our troops engaged in Iraq through the summer of 2008, as General Petraeus suggested.  A majority of Americans are looking for strategic ways to immediately withdraw them.  General Petraeus wasted a unique opportunity to reverse the course in Iraq and stem the deadly results of one of the worst foreign policy blunders in American history.

“We don’t need any more pyrrhic victories or photo opportunities.  The mission has not been accomplished.  It has only been complicated by the President’s wicked political considerations.”     

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