War Room

Report: Petraeus polished intelligence estimate

The general was unhappy with how security "improvements" were characterized.

From the fifth paragraph of a story buried eight pages deep in today's Washington Post: A draft of the gloomy National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq released last week "met with resistance from U.S. military officials in Baghdad," and a senior intelligence officer said that Petraeus "succeeded in having the security judgments [in the draft] softened to reflect improvements in recent months."

The New York Times, meanwhile, has a front-page story Petraeus would probably like to rewrite if he could. The Times says federal agencies are investigating a "widening network of criminal cases" involving allegations of fraud and kickbacks related to the purchase and delivery of weapons and other supplies to Iraqi and U.S. forces in Iraq. Among those under investigation: a senior American officer who "worked closely" with Petraeus when he was responsible for equipping Iraqi forces in 2004 and 2005.

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