Republicans Eat Themselves

Traveling always makes me a bit off balance about the news. My attention is elsewhere, so I just get bits and pieces of what's going on, and its hard to tell what's significant and what's not. I saw yesterday's news about Republican national security maven Senator John Warner's call for troops to start withdrawing from Iraq by Christmas, which seems like pretty big news. He seems to be feeling his way slowly, and his argument seems to rely on the Pentagon withdrawing troops for appearances' sake as much as anything, but at least it's something. Proving that no one is immune from the Republican smear machine, however, right wingers sprang in to action, calling Warner irresponsible and backward and claiming that he "hurts the cause of freedom." I think the strategy is to shame him back inside the fold, and who knows, it might just work.

Unfortunately, that's related to the strategy that's been working so far. If the Prez can't force Warner to take his opinion back, there's always the option of ignoring him. For Dan Froomkin (who seems to be getting more and more difficult to find on the Washington Post Website), it all reminds him of late last year.

It was then, in the wake of the November election and the report of the Iraq Study Group, that the debate in Washington finally appeared to be shifting away from how to achieve victory and toward how to cut our losses.

Instead, Bush ignored public sentiment, overruled his military commanders and opted for escalation.

And now it appears that the only thing the surge has bought him is time -- nine months or maybe a year, during which he was able to postpone the inevitable.

What has that year cost America -- and Iraq? For starters, a year in Iraq translates to over 1,000 more dead American soldiers; over $100 billion more in direct appropriations; over 15,000 more dead Iraqi civilians; and countless grievous wounds and shattered families both here and there.

In light of the costs, having bought a year of time may not seem like much of an accomplishment. But if Bush can drag things out another year or so, he can wash his hands of the whole mess and leave it for his successor to deal with.

We've already got that happening with the Prez's recent comparison of Iraq and Vietnam, and even money says it'll continue with General Patraeus's report next month. The only suspense this time is whether the strategy will work again. As much as I hate to say, I'm not sure I see any reason why it won't.