How's that surge going, Part 2

By Edward Copeland

As the date nears for Gen. Petraeus' progress report to Congress on the surge, it looks as if it will be pointless (as if we didn't see that coming) as the report will likely come from administration hacks instead of the general himself.

Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration's progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense.

Sens. Joseph Biden and Carl Levin are already raising objections, especially after reports yesterday indicated that no only does Dubyaland seek to shield the general from the public spotlight of the much-ballyhooed September report but that David Petraeus won't even author the progress report but it will instead be written by the White House, who of course only listen to the generals on the ground except of course when they don't want to.

Meanwhile, another report shows the alarming number of suicides in the Army during Dubya's debacle of a war has reached the highest rate in 26 years, with 99 suicides reported in 2006 alone.

The suicide rate for the Army has fluctuated over the past 26 years, from last year's high of 17.3 per 100,000 to a low of 9.1 per 100,000 in 2001.

Last year, "Iraq was the most common deployment location for both (suicides) and attempts," the report said.