An all-inclusive sham

By Creature

Thankfully, someone at the GAO [Government Accountability Office] leaked a draft of their dour Iraq report before the Bushies could mix in their hefty dose of spin. I'm thinking, maybe, if the Bush administration stopped watering down their reports and started watering down their drinks we could finally get a sober assessment of the surge.

Update: The cherry-picking continues

The White House counters the dour GAO draft report:

"A bar was set so high, that it was almost not to be able to be met," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "On the other hand, one of the things it does not take into account, which is not on the benchmark list, is the cooperation of the Sunni tribes, who have decided to fight back against al-Qaida."

I guess Dana Perino neglected to read this from Sunday's Times [UK]:

The Islamic Army has also noted President George Bush’s comments about the success of the surge. “Bush foolishly announced to the world that all the Sunnis in Iraq were fighting Al-Qaeda so he could claim to have achieved a great victory,” Shammari said. “It’s nonsense.”

The article above, which quotes the Islamic Army and their leader Ibrahim al-Shammari, also states that "the Islamic Army had signed a ceasefire with Al-Qaeda in Iraq." Funny, Ms. Perino didn't mention that bit of news today. I wonder why.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)