"I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up ... The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously in the face of an enemy that has shown a willingness to do anything to disrupt the establishment of the new Iraq ... There are reasons for optimism ... Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders out front and with continued coalition -- and now NATO -- support, this trend will continue. It will not be easy, but few worthwhile things are." -- Gen. David Petraeus, Sept. 26, 2004.
And they wonder why we don't believe them. Here's why. Because they lie. It's like why do we believe that fire is bad. Because it burns you. We aren't idiots.
I could explain how they are cooking the numbers (gunshots in the back of the head are crimes and not counted as sectarian killings, gunshots in the front of the head are counted as sectarian killings). I could explain how 3 of the 18 benchmarks (set BY THE ADMINISTRATION as the minimal needed) have been meet.
But why. Either people think that this war is a giant CYA exercise until 2008 and then they can dump it on Hillary - or they believe that 4,000 dead Americans and 1500 dead Iraqis a month is a price worth paying for a slow burn civil war with no end in sight and a "hope" that things get better.
Whatever...
A big difference now (versus the past) is that we are smart enough to know that Washington doesn't listen to actual people. They bend the truth, twist the facts and regurgitate pablum to us like it is reality. It isn't that people don't care - it's that we know voice when Washington has made up it's mind you can't change it.