"Pace: Message of Iraq Progress Stymied"

[GreenPartyVoter]

(It's only the message that's stymied?!)

WASHINGTON (AP) - If the American public has a distorted picture of the combat readiness of Iraqi troops, the U.S. military is largely to blame for it, the most senior American military officer said Thursday.

"We have done ourselves a disservice in the way that we have defined how we are tracking the progress of Iraqi forces," Marine Corps Gen.
Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience of military and civilian students at the National Defense University.

It was his first public speech focusing on Iraq since he became Joint Chiefs chairman on Oct. 1, and his remarks came one day after President Bush outlined his administration's strategy for achieving victory in Iraq.

Also Thursday, Bush's chief of staff told GOP congressional leaders that the White House would communicate more with lawmakers about Iraq. The leaders welcomed Andrew Card's commitment and followed it by providing "constructive criticism," said a Republican official who attended the GOP retreat in St. Michaels, Md. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

Pace was among several senior officials who spoke publicly Thursday about the strategy for winning in Iraq. Eric Edelman, the under secretary of defense for policy, spoke to and fielded questions from members of the Council on Foreign Relations, along with Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the senior assistant to Pace.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20051202/D8E7R2300.html