Dingy Harry Refuses to Concede Success In Iraq

The man is off his rocker…there’s no other explanation. Here he is on This Week With David Gregory, attempting to drag General Petraeus down into the mud with him:

Here’s the transcript, via Gateway Pundit:

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about the war in Iraq. In April of 2007, this is what you said: “I believe myself that … this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything.” Were you wrong?

SEN. REID: David, I first met General David Petraeus in Iraq. He was training the Iraqi forces at that time. At that time, he knew it wasn’t working. After he became the commander in Iraq, he and I sat down and talked. He said to me, and he said within the sound of everyone’s voice, “The war cannot be won militarily.” I said it differently than he did. But it needed a change in direction. Petraeus brought that about. He brought it about–the surge helped, of course it helped. But in addition to that, the urging of me and other people in Congress and the country dictated a change, and that took place. So…

MR. GREGORY: But you said the surge was not accomplishing anything. Even Barack Obama said last fall that it exceeded everyone’s expectations and succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

SEN. REID: Listen, at that–the time that statement was made, the surge–they weren’t talking about the surge. Petraeus added to the surge some very, very interesting things that changed things. He said a lot–just simply numbers of troops is not going to do the deal. What we need to do is work with the Iraqi people, which we haven’t done before. That’s where the Awakening Councils came about, as a result of David Petraeus’ genius. He’s done–he will be written about in the history books for years to come. My original statement was in keeping what David Petraeus said; that is, the war cannot be won militarily.

MR. GREGORY: Do you believe that the war in Iraq has been lost?

SEN. REID: I don’t think at this stage we can talk about that with any degree of sensibility. That has to be something that will talked about in the history books to come. We…

Here’s your history book, ya moron.

MR. GREGORY: So you spoke to soon in 2007?

SEN. REID: David Petraeus and Harry Reid spoke at the same time. David Petraeus said that the war cannot be won militarily, I said what I said. Who, who phrased it the best is…

MR. GREGORY: You said that the war is lost. Today, in 2009, that’s no longer your view?

SEN. REID: David, listen, someone else will have to determine that as the years go on. What has the war done? It’s brought about–it’s destabilized the Middle East. We have a civil war going on in Israel. We have a civil war in Iraq, as indicated today, more than 50 people killed with a bomb in Iraq today. We have Lebanon, a civil war there. We have Iran thumbing their nose with every, everyone. And if that weren’t bad enough, our standing in the world community is so far down as a result of this war, so–and that doesn’t take into consideration the tens of thousands who have been injured…

You know what else history is going to judge, Harry?

YOU, you pathetic liar….and you won’t come off all that well, either, for trying to compare your petty, moronic, purely political, fatalistic, and jihadi-encouraging utterances to General Petraeus’ words, (who never suggested that the war was lost, or was unwinnable). With the passage of time, all will see you as the amoral weasel that you are.

Jules Crittenden looked into this the first time the Dingy one made the claim, back in April 2007:

Reid wants Petraeus to have said what he wanted to hear: “We can’t win this militarily. He said that.”

More or less true. Mainly less.

What Petraeus actually said: “There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq. Military action is necessary to help improve security … but it is not sufficient.”*

What Petraeus did not say that Reid wishes he did: “Pull out now!”

* Petraeus went on to say, back in early March, that political progress would require talking with “some of those who have felt the new Iraq did not have a place for them.”  Much like what is now happening with Sunni tribal chiefs in Anbar and Diyala, while Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki distances himself from his Shiite death squad pals.

Nearly two years later, and the cadaver is still digging.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit