John Cornyn: “I want to make a few points. First of all, for my colleagues' recollection, I have in the Chamber a copy of the ad that…”

“I want to make a few points. First of all, for my colleagues' recollection, I have in the Chamber a copy of the ad that ran on September 9, 2007, immediately before GEN David Petraeus came to testify before the Congress, along with Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the Ambassador to Iraq from the United States. It is important for colleagues to recognize that this ad ran before the general came to testify, even though it had been well known the general would come back in September 2007 and report on progress on the fight in Iraq, both from a military as well as a diplomatic perspective. So it is clear, at least to me, the purpose of this ad was to smear the good name of this four-star U.S. Army general, the commander of multinational forces in Iraq, before he even had a chance to make his report to the Congress and to the American people on the progress of the surge of forces and of operations in Iraq.”