The White House has tried, with some success, to focus everyone’s attention in the media on the report they are writing, the report they used to call the Petraeus Report. But, at least judging from press reports, unfortunately, this report already seems to be controversial and solely focused on military measures. (No surprise — now, thanks in large measure to some good old fashioned muckraking out here in the blogosphere, we know that even the so-called Petraeus Report will be written not by the General, not by our Ambassador in Baghdad, but by the White House — the White House which has again and again avoided the kind of plain, unadorned facts discussed in the GAO report.)

Look, I know from experience that there’s no such thing as a military solution to a situation like this, and no amount of “metrics” can create one. Our own generals have always confirmed this about Iraq. And by the way— go read all of the statements at the time about the “reason” for the escalation – it was to buy political breathing room for Iraqis to compromise. Period. It hasn’t happened. So it all boils down to the same thing: these are more “steps” that don’t get you any closer to your real goals, “successes” that don’t lead to any resolution.

This White House ran out of credibility on Iraq a long long time ago. This is not the first time we’ve been told one thing only to learn another (Weapons of mass destruction? Greeted as liberators? Saddam’s oil revenue to pay for the war and reconstruction?), so, predictably, instead of an honest appraisal of the escalation, this White House is again moving the goalposts and shifting criteria—and they are doing it as the moment of accountability arrives. Their response to bad news has been and continues to be: simply change the story. What they can’t change is the fact that time is not on our side. It’s wrong to sacrifice over 100 American lives each month for a policy we know is not working.

So here’s where we stand: Republicans asked for clarity in this debate and swore up and down that, this time, they were serious. When September came around, they’d look at the facts and make a sober assessment on the merits of the policy in Iraq. Well, those facts are in. We need to keep up the pressure on them.

I’ll be working continuously this month trying to set a deadline to force a new policy in Iraq. I’ll try to stop by as often as I can this month with ways you can, if you choose, put the pressure on the Roadblock Republicans to force them to take a new tack. In the end, it’s been sustained action by millions of activists that have gotten us this far, and it’s only through the loud voices of those activists that we can get what’s right – an end to the Bush doctrine in Iraq, and a policy worthy of our soldiers’ sacrifice.