"Gen. David Petraeus demeaned himself long before MoveOn.org and its ad."

Move on? Not so fast

Criticize the theater — and then turn the issue into a blockbuster

Editor, The Times:

The Seattle Times just couldn't help itself from answering the call of the party of obfuscation, obstruction and petty self-righteousness.

The Times criticizes the political theater in Congress, yet does what it can to keep the flame of empty vindictiveness burning in true Republican form. The Republican Party has reached great heights, including the White House, on the backs of military heroes it has vilified: John McCain, Max Cleland, John Kerry, to name a few. The war rages on but the only plan the minority party can come up with is one of misdirecting the public away from its inability to deal with ending it.

The MoveOn.org ad ["MoveOn.org's demeaning attack," Times, Editorial, Sept. 23] asks if Gen. David Petraeus will tell the truth based on his history of following the Bush administration's practice of manipulating the facts, and concludes — correctly — that he most likely would not. Woe be to those who thought their speech was protected by the First Amendment when they actually do speak out.

What The Times and those distraction-seeking Republicans in Congress failed to report is that MoveOn's biggest sin was not questioning Gen. Petraeus's veracity, but its plagiarism of the exact word used to describe Petraeus by officers on the ground long before the ad was published.

— Patrick Stults, Seattle

First read, then critique

Did The Times' editorial board run out of things to write about this Sunday? That's the only conclusion I can surmise from its inexplicable attack on MoveOn.org's newspaper ad, in which The Times says MoveOn called Gen. Petraeus "General Betray Us."

Simply quoting the headline of MoveOn's ad shoots down The Times' argument completely: "GENERAL PETRAEUS OR GENERAL BETRAY US?" This is not a declarative statement, as The Times' Editorial Board would have its readers believe; it's a question. The ad details the disconnect between Petraeus' public comments and the facts on the ground in Iraq.

Even with the boorish headline, the ad was a legitimate call to question the front man for a failed war and a failed strategy. You can decide for yourself if the statements he has made really present an honest representation of the situation in Iraq. But to consider him unquestionable because of a few stars on his shoulder (hard-earned, I'm sure) is the same sort of childish thinking The Times accuses MoveOn of using.

If only The Times' editorial board had read the ad before criticizing it. Instead, The Times, which has been so brave and so early in calling for the withdrawal of troops, embarrassed itself by becoming yet another echo in the right-wing noise machine.

— Paul Morgan, Lynnwood

Next, someone will steal Bush's lunch money

I read your editorial regarding the MoveOn.org ad, and I had to ask: You're kidding, right?

This is why we can't win this war — we're stuck in junior high. Child A calls Child B a bad name, Child B tells all of his or her friends, and now Child B's friends are fighting with Child A's friends ... all because of junior-high name-calling.

It's nice to see that The Seattle Times has joined the drama. Now your feelings are hurt. I thought the saying was, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"?

While you children partake in this juvenile and immature name-calling game; while the junior-high students on The Seattle Times' editorial board nurse their hurt feelings; while the children in the White House and Congress fight over who called whom what name; soldiers are dying.

This was a junior-high school name-calling incident, and The Times decided to join in. Good for you. But why don't you call me when you graduate to high school; when you're ready to put egos aside, drop the drama and discuss the real issue here: Americans are dying.

— Ben Tousey, Seattle

When all else fails, just pull an elephant out of a hat

The Times fell for the same old Republican trick that they've pulled over and over: Cover your dirty tricks with a diversion.

The Republicans won't help get our troops back home — they won't even let our troops enjoy as much time at home as they serve in Iraq.

But pay no attention to the man behind the curtain; focus on the ugly, ugly ad that MoveOn.org published. Of course the Republicans could never do anything that vicious. Could they?

Raise your hand if you remember Max Cleland, Swift Boat, and the demonization of the Sept. 11 widows.

Shame on you and the 22 Democrats who can't focus on America's priorities. MoveOn never killed anyone. How hard is that to understand?

— L.M. Harrison, Kent

He was in trouble before MoveOn showed up

Gen. David Petraeus demeaned himself long before MoveOn.org and its ad. This is the same general, who as commander of the 101st Airborne, made no attempt to protect the munitions in three ammunition dumps of which the contents have been used in the killing of hundreds of our servicemen and women.

He has allowed himself to be used by the White House spin machine just as Gen. Colin Powell was used in the run-up to the war. I suspect that some day he will look back on his testimony with great regret, just as Powell now does about his U.N. testimony. No one who has read the independent assessments coming from other sources such as the Government Accountability Office or any of the media stationed in Baghdad and such places as the much touted Anbar province can have any real confidence in the statements by this general.

— Jerry Ferrier, Seattle

Give a man your trust, and he just may betray it

My Oxford English Dictionary defines the word betray as "proving false to a trust." One of the greatest such trusts given to any commanding general is to guard the lives and welfare of the men and women serving under him. The half-truths and misrepresentations of Gen. David Petraeus in his recent testimony to Congress will result in the unnecessary loss and ruination of the lives of many additional American soldiers (and countless Iraqis, too).

Thus, MoveOn.org's ad in The New York Times, with its controversial headline "General Betray Us," is tragically accurate.

As with his infamous op-ed piece in The Washington Post, just six weeks before the 2004 election, Petraeus continued to place his own career advancement over care for his troops, telling his civilian bosses what they want to hear rather than what is true. It's not treason, but it certainly is a betrayal, and during a time when truth-telling about Iraq — even if it hurts — has been unforgivably rare, MoveOn.org was right on.

The now-notorious advertisement may have been ill-advised, but only insofar as it provided other betrayers of the people's trust with an opportunity to assume a posture of outrage, thereby diverting the public's legitimate anger at was, and continues to be, the far more despicable betrayal by President Bush and his administration.

— David Barash, Redmond