Hume cherry-picked from McCaffrey memo

Summary: Fox News' Brit Hume selectively quoted from a memo written by retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, telling viewers that McCaffrey, who has criticized Donald Rumsfeld in the past, "now says the U.S. is achieving its objectives" in Iraq. But in reporting McCaffrey's optimistic statements about Iraq's army and police, Hume omitted a number of negative assessments of these two institutions and criticisms of Bush administration policy that McCaffrey included in his memo.

During the "Political Grapevine" segment of the May 8 edition of Fox News' Special Report, host and Washington managing editor Brit Hume selectively quoted from an April 25 memo written by retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey after McCaffrey's recent trip to Iraq. Hume told viewers that McCaffrey, who has criticized Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the past, "now says the U.S. is achieving its objectives" in Iraq. But in reporting McCaffrey's optimistic statements about Iraq's army and police, Hume omitted a number of negative assessments of the two entities as well as criticisms of Bush administration policy that McCaffrey included in his memo.

From the May 8 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

HUME: A retired Army general who was once called Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's most outspoken critic over the war in Iraq now says the U.S. is achieving its objectives there. Barry McCaffrey, perhaps best known as President Clinton's drug czar, blasted the Pentagon in 2003 for invading Iraq without, he thought, enough troops to keep the peace after the fall of Baghdad.

But, after a week in Iraq recently, McCaffrey praised the morale and effectiveness of the U.S. forces as, quote: "simply awe-inspiring," called the Iraqi army, quote: "real, growing, and willing to fight," and noted that the Iraqi police are beginning to show, he said, "marked improvement in capability." And while he called foreign fighters a "tactical menace," McCaffrey reports that, quote: "The foreign jihadist fighters have been defeated as a strategic and operational threat to the creation of an Iraqi government."

In his memo, McCaffrey stated, "There is no reason why the U.S. cannot achieve our objectives in Iraq." He added that he was "encourag[ed]" by "the progress achieved in the past year." McCaffrey also wrote that "[t]he U.S. will remain in a serious crisis in Iraq during the coming 24 months" and that "[t]he situation is perilous, uncertain, and extreme -- but far from hopeless."

As Hume noted, McCaffrey stated that the Iraqi army is "real, growing, and willing to fight." McCaffrey also stated, however, that Iraqi troops are "very badly equipped" and "have almost no mortars, heavy machine guns, decent communications equipment, artillery, armor, or IAF [Iraqi air force] air transport, helicopter, and strike support." In addition, McCaffrey noted the "corruption and lack of capability" of the defense and interior ministries:

The Iraqi Army is real, growing, and willing to fight. They now have lead action of a huge and rapidly expanding area and population. The battalion level formations are in many cases excellent -- most are adequate. However, they are very badly equipped with only a few light vehicles, small arms, most with body armor and one or two uniforms. They have almost no mortars, heavy machine guns, decent communications equipment, artillery, armor, or IAF air transport, helicopter, and strike support. Their logistics capability is only now beginning to appear. Their Institutional Army (Military Schools, logistics base, manufacturing) is beginning to show encouraging signs of self-initiative.

The Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior have shown dramatic and rapid growth in capacity and competence since LTG Dempsey took them under his care. However, the corruption and lack of capability of the ministries will require several years of patient coaching and officer education in values as well as the required competencies. The Iraqi people clearly want a National Army. The recruiting now has gotten significant participation by all sectarian groups to include the Sunni. The Partnership Program with U.S. units will be the key to success with the Embedded Training Teams augmented and nurtured by a U.S. Maneuver Commander. This is simply a brilliant success story. We need at least two-to-five more years of U.S. partnership and combat backup to get the Iraqi Army ready to stand on its own. The interpersonal relationships between Iraqi Army units and their U.S. trainers are very positive and genuine.

McCaffrey added:

We need to better equip the Iraqi Army with a capability to deter foreign attack -- and to have a leveraged advantage over the Shia militias and the AIF [anti-Iraqi forces] insurgents they must continue to confront. The resources we are now planning to provide are inadequate by an order of magnitude or more.

As Hume also noted, McCaffrey wrote that "[t]he Iraqi police are beginning to show marked improvement in capability." McCaffrey stated that one segment of the police force, the "National Police Commando Battalions," are "very capable." But Hume neglected to mention that McCaffrey also wrote that "[t]he police are heavily infiltrated by both the AIF and the Shia militia" and that "[t]hey are incapable of confronting local armed groups." McCaffrey stated that building the police force "will be a ten year project," adding that the "police program is now inadequately resourced":

The Iraqi police are beginning to show marked improvement in capability since MG Joe Peterson took over the program. The National Police Commando Battalions are very capable -- a few are simply superb and on par with the best U.S. SWAT units in terms of equipment, courage, and training. Their intelligence collection capability is better than ours in direct HUMINT [human intelligence].

[...]

The police are heavily infiltrated by both the AIF and the Shia militia. They are widely distrusted by the Sunni population. They are incapable of confronting local armed groups. They inherited a culture of inaction, passivity, human rights abuses, and deep corruption.

This will be a ten year project requiring patience, significant resources, and an international public face. This is a very, very tough challenge which is a prerequisite to the Iraqis winning the counter-insurgency struggle they will face in the coming decade. We absolutely can do this. But this police program is now inadequately resourced.

McCaffrey's memo contained other critical assessments that Hume failed to mention. For example, McCaffrey wrote that "[t]he incompetence and corruption of the interim Iraqi Administration has been significant" and that "U.S. Inter-Agency Support for our strategy in Iraq is grossly inadequate."

McCaffrey noted further that "U.S. public diplomacy and rhetoric about confronting Iranian nuclear weapons is scaring neighbors in the Gulf. They will not support another war." McCaffrey added, "A U.S. military confrontation with Iran could result in [Shiite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-] Sadr attacking our forces in Baghdad -- or along our 400 mile line of communications out of Iraq to the sea."

—J.S.