NBC’s David Gregory just interviewed General Petraeus on Meet the Press, and he totally failed to ask the tough questions about the Afghanistan War. Instead, he gave Petraeus a platform to claim we’re “making progress,” a well-worn message aimed at convincing elites to ignore the massive public opposition to extending the war. If the rest of the media fail to ask hard questions during Petraeus’ upcoming media tour, there’s a chance he could get what he wants: the freedom to extend this brutal, futile war.

Sign our

petition to tell the next journalists on Petraeus' media tour to ask tough questions and expose his effort to extend the Afghanistan War.

CBS’ Katie Couric, FOX News’ Jennifer Griffin, and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos are in line to talk to the general. Since Couric is next, we’ll start with her. Tell her to ask tough questions about Petraeus' claims of "progress" and his attempt to extend the Afghanistan War.

We're winning the debate about Afghanistan, but if journalists don’t live up to their responsibility to push back on military spin, it will be harder than ever to end this brutal, costly war. Help us stop Petraeus' effort to extend the war.

Four Possible Questions for Petraeus:

“How can you claim we’re ‘making progress’ when your most recent progress report to Congress cited a huge increase in violence this year compared to last year?”
“How can you claim we’re making progress when more civilians are dying than ever in Afghanistan?” “IED attacks have doubled compared to last year. Is that ‘progress?’”
Pentagon reports indicate the insurgency continues to grow in size and capability since December 2009. Is that “progress?”
Any of these questions can expose Petraeus’ spin for what it is: an attempt to manipulate the media and public opinion to gain the freedom to extend the futile, costly war in Afghanistan.

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Copy this text:

“I expect Katie Couric to ask General Petraeus tough questions about his claims of ‘progress’ in Afghanistan and his attempt to extend the war.”

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Choose “CBS Evening News w/ Katie Couric” from the pulldown menu.

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Sincerely,

Derrick Crowe, Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team

P.S. We know that not all of you have Twitter accounts. If you want to participate outside of our Twitter action, please see here for instructions on how you can join this action.

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