Spinning the Surge Report
Already the battle over the report has begun. It doesn't really matter what happens in Iraq; it hasn't for quite some time. The White House is the one writing this report, but even if they weren't, any honest report is going to have enough points that both sides of the debate will be able to latch on to some of them and say it proves their point It will certainly be filled with just enough "progress" for the war's supporters to call for another Freidman to "allow the strategy to work". Muddy the waters long enough, and it will be somebody else's problem.
The Democrats in Congress will be goaded into stupidity yet again and pass more money for the failure to continue.
Since there is no real prospect of this war ending under the current administration, I'm now turning my curiosity to how the rabid, pro-Bush supporters of the war, who I figure will spend all of their not inconsiderable energy and influence over the next (seemingly unending) 14 months of the US Presidential campaign to convince the Democratic leadership to "moderate" their opposition to the war and support some kind of strategy that will allow it to continue, will turn into savage opponents of the strategy and the war as soon as a Democrat sits in the White House.
Because as soon as that happens, you can be sure they will all remember their Clinton-era opposition to nation-building; their wish for a more humble foreign policy; and their dislike of foreign interventions lacking an exit strategy. And they'll do all of that while claiming they deserve none of the blame for the mess Iraq is.
You know they'll do it. It's consistent with how they've been operating so far. I'm just really curious to see how they'll pull it off.
