Bush Completes Iraq Victory Tour

As I am writing this post the Prez is speaking to a throng of enthusiastic marines and soldiers at a U.S. military base in Al Anbar province of Iraq. A general introduced W to great applause, plenty of believers in that room. It almost looked like he was accepting a Grammy. He promptly thanked everyone in the room, his wife and the creator. Apparently going to Baghdad and making a speech wasn't in the cards not much good news to report there.

What we have witnessed today is the final stage of prepping the battlefield for the looming face off in congress in a week's time. The most important tenant of the this strategy is of course the PR offensive. The top secret insertion of the presidential contingent into the Sunni stronghold and subsequent seizure of the news cycle is a means to this end. So here you have it the latest mission accomplished moment. We already know what Gen." I have a PhD and you don't" Petraeus will report to Congress: the surge must be working we've pacified a Al Anbar. That's great but I doubt handing out piles of cash weapons to tribal sheiks required a surge. There's a Power Point presentation out there that backs me up on this. The creator Captain Travis Patriquin was killed by an IED in December of 2006 but, the seed of his idea started taking hold before the surge and has been a success in the otherwise dim situation across the country.

What I would like to see in the Congressional testimony from the good General and Ambassador Crocker is an honest assessment of the total strategy, not one tactical success. By the looks of today's orchestrated event and clear concentration on Anbar we are not going to get much of that. My guess is that we'll hear a lot about how Al Queda is on the run and that troop casualties are on the decrease. There are observers who would say the later point is not quite true. The last time I checked the center of governance in Iraq was Baghdad and the overall strategy that the surge was supposed to make room for was to create security for all Iraqis and progress on the political and reconciliation fronts. According to the just released report by the GOA we aren't seeing much of that these days. So tell us wise General and noble Statesman how much more blood and treasure do you need to continue this misadventure in the desert just to see if it may work? How many more "success is around the corner" speeches must we endure before the president and Bill Kristol admit that a surge of any size can't turn back the clock and erase the bad decisions and incompetence that have damned us to a seemingly unending occupation? We have to wait a week but my guess is we won't hear anything new.