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Petraeus on GAO: "Their Data Is Our Data"
Sen. Biden proclaimed himself uninterested in the methodological dispute between Petraeus' command and the GAO. But when Petraeus reaffirmed that the last five weeks of positive data collection on civilian casualties would have changed the GAO's skeptical assessment of the surge, Biden arched an eyebrow. "Five weeks is a moment," Biden said.
Petraeus, for his part, said that "their data is our data." Maybe so, but their analysis is very different from Petraeus', and that just makes the question about methodological quality all the more pressing.
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Comments (4)
Fred M. wrote on September 11, 2007 12:20 PM:I suppose it shouldn't surprise anyone that an administration that lied us into an unneccesary war would have any qualms about lying in order to keep us there.
“Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing.”
Joshua wrote on September 11, 2007 12:33 PM:- Dwight D. Eisenhower
The data might be the same, but Spencer, don't you remember? The Republicans have the math.
Clem Yeobright wrote on September 11, 2007 12:34 PM:This out-McNamaras McNamara. Petraeus believes what we cannot win on the ground we can win in PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets.
Rove must be proud of the power of alternate realities!
Tim wrote on September 11, 2007 2:47 PM:Petraeus has an axe to grind here, folks. His job is to complete the objectives given to him by the Commander in Chief. To do this, he must convince congress to keep the money flowing to the military operation. Whether it is by malfeasance, misfeasance or by other methods, his numbers and testimony reflects this reality.
Conversely, the GAO has a different mission. Accumulate data, analyze it and produce information to whomever has requested it. As such, they don't care what the numbers say, nor whether or not the money flows, but they DO care that the numbers are accurate and completely cover the questions asked.
Think about this and look at the GAO numbers and the benchmarks. Recall that 15 of 18 benchmarks were not met, including at least two which Petraeus will say were (because it will keep the money coming).