In case you hadn't noticed (and I'm sure you have), Gen. David Petraeus is playing the press like crazy in an effort to push public sentiment toward deferring the July, 2011 troop withdrawal. For the past two weeks it's nearly been relentless, but this weekend he escalated the PR war.

First, the newest reports of "oil deposits" in Afghanistan -- vast, rich, yummy oil deposits. That's the first course for what he served up on Meet the Press Sunday with David Gregory's assistance, of course.

MR. GREGORY: Let me talk about U.S. troops. I asked you before, when we talked about this July deadline of next year, how stifling is the, the concept of this deadline and this Washington debate to what you're trying to do here?



GEN. PETRAEUS: I don't find it that stifling. I'm not bowed over by, you know, the knowledge that July 2011 is out there. In fact, the president has been very clear, Vice President Biden's been very clear as well, more recently, that this is a date when a process begins that is conditions based. And as the conditions permit, we transition tasks to our Afghan counterparts and to security forces and, and in various governmental institutions, and that enables a "responsible drawdown of our forces"...

That sounds to me like the sound of a big middle finger being raised at the promise Petraeus made along with all of the other generals last December to the President -- that a timeline where the troops started coming home in July, 2011 was one they found reasonable and could adhere to. It's especially interesting that he would say Biden approves, given that Biden has been the squeaky wheel against any surge or other buildup in Afghanistan. Regardless, a promise is a promise.

I quote General Petraeus verbatim:

Inside the Oval Office, Obama asked Petraeus, "David, tell me now. I want you to be honest with me. You can do this in eighteen months?" "Sir, I'm confident we can train and hand over to the ANA [Afghan National Army] in that time frame," Petraeus replied. "Good. No problem," the president said. "If you can't do the things you say you can in eighteen months then no one is going to suggest we stay, right?" "Yes, sir, in agreement," Petraeus said.

New York Times picked up this juicy quote from another point in the interview:

General Petraeus, who took over last month after Gen. Stanley McChrystal was fired by President Obama, said he believed he would be given the time and material necessary to prevail here. He expressed that confidence despite the fact that nearly every phase of the war is going badly — and despite the fact that the American public has turned against it. “The president didn’t send me over here to seek a graceful exit,” the general said from his office at NATO headquarters in downtown Kabul. “My marching orders are to do all that is humanly possible to help us achieve our objectives.”

All of the shiny pretty minerals and yummy oil in Afghanistan don't make up for the lost lives there. Petraeus was either talking smack to the President -- his Commander-in-Chief -- or else he's talking smack to the press. He is, by all accounts, excellent at stroking and cultivating reporters. Just look at the job he did on David Gregory, who was more than willing to shovel handy verbs like "stifling" at the good General for his own brand of spin.

These are trial balloons. They're intended to measure the public will for extending Afghanistan. They're also intended to pressure the Afghans into getting with it and taking their country back. But if we don't register our disapproval, he might just get away with it.

The full transcript: