Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake has produced a video, which, along with Matt Stoller, I helped put together and narrated, documenting the four-years-long record of Gen. Petraeus in repeatedly assuring Americans that the war is going well and great progress is being made. The video can be viewed, among other places, here at FDL.

It is actually amazing to watch media coverage of Gen. Petraeus' testimony depict him as though he has just risen from the apolitical ether as the objective and trustworthy source with regard to the war. The White House is desperate for that image to be maintained because the nation no longer trusts George Bush or Dick Cheney or other Republican office-holders, precisely because they have heard from those individuals over the last several years countless assurances of "progress," only for events repeatedly to prove those claims to be untrue.

But since the inception of the war, Gen. Petraeus has been at the forefront of issuing those sorts of highly -- and unduly -- optimistic statements about the war's progress. The media should not take a position as to how much credibility ought to be assigned to Gen. Petraeus' testimony, but it is inexcusable to exclude from their coverage these facts -- facts which demonstrate indisputably that what Gen. Petraeus is claiming this week about the war's success is exactly what he has been claiming for the last several years.

In addition to documenting Gen. Petraeus' history, the video is also intended to spur support for an online petition, created and to be submitted to various Congressional leaders by Matt Stoller and Open Left. That online petition, which I encourage you to sign, is here, at Stop The DC Establishment. As indicated, the video can be viewed here. This is the first step in trying to develop a template for channeling the intensity and growing anger with the political class into meaningful pressure.