A number of e-mails came in at the end of last week asking us to note something again, this time for the record. Independent media has taken to repeating a falsehood and we'll assume it's by mistake.
Two weeks ago, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno helped with Operation Push-Back by declaring that a November report would be a better assessment of the Bully Boy's escalation than the one David Petraues will be giving to Congress in September.
This was an attempt to downgrade the September report. It was not an attempt to prevent the September report from being given. Even if Odierno had wanted to do that, he didn't have the power to do so -- the report is Congressionally mandated.
But last week, a piece that made it up at several outlets maintained that two Thursdays ago Odierno said the September report was off and then came back the next day to say it wasn't.
That's not correct. In the same Thursday press conference (via videolink with reporters at the Pentagon), Odierno explained of the November report he repeatedly pushed, "What I was saying is -- again, my remarks were, in 45 days I will have a better idea if the trends are continuing, and that's September. Obviously, we have an assessment we will conduct in September that will provide -- that General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will provide. I was not looking at extending that time frame when they have to report back. What I imagine we'll have to do is do assessments that follow that initial assessment in September, and that's -- I'm assuming we'll continue to do assessments while we're here."
"Obviously, we have an assessment we will conduct in September". Obviously because it is Congressionally mandated and the US military does not have the ability to override Congress.
So one more time, Odierno's efforts two Thursdays ago were to lower expectations about the September report; however, he was not ever suggesting or stating that the September report would not take place.