The Petreus Testimony Leaks

That did not take long. The AP already has an article out describing the confindential testimony given by ex CIA director David Petreus. It is quite disquieting. Here are the main points:

A) Petreus "he believed all along that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a terrorist strike."

B) The description of the attack that was compiled by the CIA "referred to it as a terrorist attack. But Petraeus told the lawmakers it was removed by other federal agencies who made changes to the CIA's draft."

C) Petreus did not know exactly who made the changes to the CIA conclusions or who removed the references to terrorism. Nor does Petreus know who gave the talking points to Ambassador Susan Rice that she used on five different news shows on the Sunday after the attack.

D) Even though he claimed not to know who made the changes or how they came to be made, said there was no White House interference or "political agenda". Of course, one has to wonder how Petreus could be certain of this if he has no idea of what happened.

E) Petreus did not discuss his affair with Paula Broadbent "except to express regret about the circumstances of his departure."

So what new does this tell us? Just a few things:

1) The CIA from the people on the scene up to and including the director correctly recognized the attack as a terror attack from an al Qaeda affiliate. Previously, it was thought that the CIA leadership thought that the video might have been a cause since this was what they told Congress in a briefing on September 14th.

2) Someone other than the CIA changed the description of the attack to one that was clearly erroneous although Petreus claims not to know how that happened or who did it.

3) There is no competent information about how that change came about or why it was made. Petreus expressed an opinion about this, but also said that he had no knowledge about it. In other words, he has no basis on which to speak.

4) President Obama told Ambassador Rice what to say when she went on TV. That is what he told the nation two days ago. Somehow the information from the CIA was either modified before it got to the president or else Obama himself directed that it be changed. It is still a mystery. Of course, there is a clear political benefit to Obama in making the change and no one else seems to have any reason to insert incorrect information into the intelligence.