General David Petraeus testified before the Congress last week on the current situation in Iraq, and gave his professional opinion on what was needed to successfully conclude the mission of pacification and eventual exit from that country.

(Kansas City Star headline for this testimony:  Iraq 'success' to take time.  The quotation marks were in the headline itself.  It is interesting that this was the lead story for September 11, 2007.)

President Bush accepted Gen. Petraeus's recommendations, and told the nation so in a speech on September 14.

The Star led off the paper on 9-15 thusly:  Bush asks for more time.

Those who were following this particular news thread AND who were capable of critical reading noticed immediately that the Kansas City Socialist (oops, the Kansas City Star) was slanting the news once again.  The recommendations for more time in Iraq did not come from the President, but rather from his senior military commander in that country (and one who, recall, was unanimously ratified to fill that post by the Senate).  A more accurate headline would be "Bush accepts general's recommendations", but the Kansas City Star has not necessarily been interested in reporting news accurately since being purchased by the McClatchy syndicate.

The Cold Hard Fact here is that PETRAEUS asked for more time, NOT Bush.  Mr. Bush was simply acting favorably on the recommendations of the General.  The media had a field day when Mr. Bush refused to follow the recommendations of General Shinseki, but now that he is taking advice from military leaders in the field, the media consider Bush to be in the wrong yet again.  Shinseki, of course, wanted American troops out of Iraq the instant we found Hussein, and that was unacceptable considering the condition of the country and the power vacuum that existed at the time.  The media has consistently taken the side of the pacifists and "leave now" whiners, rather than look at the big picture concerning Iraq and the overall war on terrorism in the Middle East.  Mr. Bush will NEVER catch a break from the mainstream media as long as he is in office.  Therefore, history will have to judge who was in the right.