“She can’t make the briefing tomorrow,” a Democratic aide told ABC News Tuesday evening. “But she spoke with the general via phone today at some length.”

A Pelosi aide said the speaker on Tuesday requested a one-on-one meeting with Petraeus but that could not be worked out. He said their phone conversation lasted 30 minutes.

The posts mvdg links too make it sound like Democrats are refusing to speak to Petraeus, or listen to anything he’s got to say about Iraq. That’s not what the ABC story says.

How about this one?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3075560

Now Baghdad, thats another story, and the one that actually matters. Got any news about Baghdad? Yeah it’s nasty, and seems our folks, and the IP/IA are getting hit pretty damn good last I checked. Oh and don’t forget the murders there are going along at a good clip as well.

Anbar is like South Dakaota to Baghdad being Chicago. A single city larger in poplation than a whole province.

His assertions do blow holes in one theory, Syria’s government apparently ain’t doin such a good job of supplying terrorists in Iraq, of course I never quite bought that line either.

What I’m unable to find anywhere on these sites is a link to an actual news story that states “General Petraeus was rebuffed by Congressional Democrats” or, in fact, anything at all that confirms the story.

These blogs exist to attack Democrats. Do you have anything else that supports your allegation? If so, it would be nice to see it.

They will go find some Al Queida run web blogs that say its hell over here and cling to it with passionate fury and claim its the real truth.

secondly thats a quote from the ops article he linked too.

http://op-for.com/2007/04/what_is_happening_over_here.html

I just wanted to let you know what is happening where I am in Iraq. I don’t want to say this is in response to Harry Reid, but his comments the other day are not in line with what we’re seeing.

We are winning over here in Al Anbar province. I don’t know about Baghdad, but Ramadi was considered THE hotspot in Al Anbar, the worse province, and it has been very quiet. The city is calm, the kids are playing in the streets, the local shops are open, the power is on at night, and daily commerce is the norm rather than the exception. There have been no complex attacks since March. That is HUGE progress. This quiet time is allowing the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police to establish themselves in the eyes of the people. The Iraqi people also want IA’s and IP’s in their areas. The Sunni Sheiks are behind us and giving us full support. This means that almost all Sunnis in Al Anbar are now committed to supporting the US and Iraqi forces. It also means that almost all insurgents left out here are AQ. FYI, the surge is just beginning. Gen Petraeus’ strategy is just getting started and we’re seeing huge gains here.
However, you don’t see Harry Reid talking about this. When I saw what he said, it really pissed me off. That guy does not know what is going on over here because he hasn’t bothered to come and find out. The truth on the
ground in Al Anbar is not politically convenient for him, so he completely ignored it.
This war can be won. We just need the time to get the IA and IP operating on their own. Gen Petraeus is treating the war like a counter-insurgency rather than a stability operation. For non-military personnel, there is a HUGE difference between the two. What we’ve been doing in Iraq since Petraeus took over is completely different than what we were doing under Gen Casey. However, you don’t hear the press or the democrats say that. Most of them
are too committed to saying we’ve lost to further their own political agendas that they cannot acknowledge we’re doing something totally different and it is working.

BASH: You talked several times about General Petraeus. You know that he is here in town. He was at the White House today, sitting with the president in the Oval Office and the president said that he wants to make it clear that Washington should not be telling him, General Petraeus, a commander on the ground in Iraq, what to do, particularly, the president was talking about Democrats in Congress.

He also said that General Petraeus is going to come to the Hill and make it clear to you that there is progress going on in Iraq, that the so-called surge is working. Will you believe him when he says that?

REID: No, I don’t believe him, because it’s not happening. All you have to do is look at the facts. {…}

Who you gonna believe? Me, or your….

The war IS A FAILURE and the republicans are EXACTLY WHY IT IS FAILING.

Yep we all know this. Thats a no brainer.

MvdG, the article you posted didn’t have the whole story either. I’m not looking to pick a fight but I do think we got the whole story yet.

Here are my unanswered questions I had when reading the articles:

1- How far in advance were these meetings scheduled? I assume that congress members are scheduled a few weeks in advance. If this “videoconference with Petraeus on March 8″ was scheduled on March 5th or 6th, maybe some couldn’t attend.

2- What was this “member’s only meeting” two days later? Was it a replay of the videoconference? I assume it was recorded.

3- How many Republicans were able to attend this meeting?

4- Historically, how many Republicans and Democrats miss meetings?

I don’t know what the answers are and it may indeed show that the Dems are skipping meetings. If so BOO on them, but I’ll wait for the facts before blowing more “hot air”.

As for the comment that Democrats are divided on Iraq; of course they are. Being able to have differing opinions on issues is one of the things that differenciates Democrats from Republicans. Democrats are allowed to think for themselves and not parrot the party line. And I believe that Democrats are united in their desire to get out of Iraq, they just have differences in how to go about doing it.

After all these years, at what point do “Briefings” become irelevent?. I’d say a long time ago.

Bring the tropps home NOW!