Only In Washington
That’s a boring headline, but what can you do?
It's somewhat stunning to see how much the press continues to lap this up, but the whole Petraeus dog and pony show is getting some predictable, if pathetic results.
Interested in seeing the madness our country is dealing with? Read on.
Only in D.C. could one be totally unsurprised to see the following sequence of events:
The White House reluctantly create a “study group” to recommend how to deal with the Iraq War.
The President completely ignores those recommendations.
In stark contrast to those recommendations, the President INCREASES troop levels in Iraq by approximately 30,000, stating that it would only be needed for about six months or so.
Six months later, the chief General echoes the President’s feelings by stating that within a year or so, those 30,000 troops can actually leave Iraq, meaning. Which is actually a military necessity due to how long troops can actually be in rotation, and little if anything to do with reality on the ground.
All of the above be interpreted as “a troop reduction” and “a new way forward.”
As quoted yesterdya by Dan Froomkin, his Washington Post counterpart Eugene Robinson summed it up nicely:
"The next six months in Iraq are crucial -- and always will be. That noise you heard yesterday on Capitol Hill was the can being kicked further down the road leading to January 2009, when George W. Bush gets to hand off his Iraq fiasco to somebody else.
"It's clear by now that playing for time is the real White House strategy for Iraq. Everything else is tactical maneuver and rhetorical legerdemain -- nothing up my sleeve -- with which the administration is buying time, roughly in six-month increments."
As Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi flatly stated, "Please, it is an insult to the intelligence of the American people to call that a new direction."
Updated to reflect the fact my RSS reader was a day old. Today's Dan Froomkin, however, contains this gem:
"After meeting with Bush yesterday at the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) expressed similar dismay with the Petraeus plan. . . .
"Pelosi said she told Bush that he was essentially endorsing a 10-year 'open-ended commitment.' Reid said the president wants 'no change in mission -- this is more of the same.'"
Good stuff.