Chickenhawks Will, Safire, Barnes turn down trip to "Peaceful" Iraq [View All]

http://www.centerforamericanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?cid=%7BE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7D&bin_id=%7BAF7C8CCD-7111-43C0-8274-0DC578471F5C

Greetings from Baghdad.

We’re part of the Bush administration’s effort to convince the American people of the progress the U.S. is making in Iraq since the end of major combat. The Secretary of Defense has decided to send delegations here to be briefed and exposed to realities on the ground. According to Secretary Rumsfeld’s office, these delegations consist of a “key” group of military analysts, journalists, and other national security “experts” who would travel to Iraq in order “to enhance their knowledge of the coalition’s progress toward reconstruction and self-governance in Iraq.”

The Defense Department invited 21 people to travel to Iraq from November 2 to 7 and told us that they would limit the delegation to 17. Of the original 21 invitees, only three of us accepted. Those who turned down the invitation included Fred Barnes, Jackson Diehl, William Safire and George Will. After they extended more invitations, eventually 10 people accepted.

Our delegation is made up of two journalists, three scholars from think tanks, three people from the private sector, and a clergyman (boy, was I glad to have him on board, especially after the Chinook helicopter was shot down the day we left). We were joined by three officials from the Defense Department.

The first delegation went to Iraq in early September and came back with different impressions. As detailed in dueling op-eds in the Washington Post, Jessica Matthews, the president of the Carnegie Endowment, was skeptical of the progress while Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution was supportive of the perspectives of the Bush administration. Based on my first day in Iraq, I am leaning heavily in Jessica’s direction.