Rinse, repeat

The latest 'victory' tour by Petraeus and Crocker lacks the luster of their last appearance. The Basra blunder, the vulnerability of the Green Zone as well as the escalating cost of the adventure meant that triumphal statements had to be avoided. The fall back was that always used by this administration, stonewall. If you refuse to talk about something, it doesn't exist.

So, apart from the troop reduction from surge levels (if that really happens), the war will grind on as it has for the last five years. Senseless, expensive destruction is the fact, stability and progress are the facade that is touted. It can only get worse, and after the surge facade is chipped away, it will be necessary to create another.

So it's just about time to drag Fred Kagan and the other AEI clowns out to write Op-Eds in the NYT and WaPo to show that victory really is just around the corner, if we just try... what? More troops seem to be lacking, the US is already bombing everything that moves, so these guys are really going to have to put on their thinking caps, such as they are. Wait, what about Iran?!?!