After a weekend when we lost another ten soldiers in Iraq, David Sanger’s analysis in today’s Times concludes that despite all the smoke signals and rhetoric from the White House lately, the truth is that Bush’s “Go Long” strategy will be in reality “stay the course.” Sanger states that putting more advisors and trainers into the country while taking other steps that should have been done years ago (redeploy to the borders, bases, and nearby countries; regional conferences; and direct talks with internal and external opponents) may all come too late. Bush’s stubbornness and refusal to admit he needed to change course means this war, these deaths, and the disaster to the region, our national interests, and to our military are solely the fault of George W. Bush. Maybe Lindsey Graham can send another ten South Carolinians to Iraq to replace the ten that were killed over the weekend, so that Bush can "win" this war.
And as for the Iraqis themselves, they are against a regional conference amongst their neighbors to discuss strengthening the country, because they want to dictate their own solutions and future. Talabani has always mouthed whatever George W. Bush and Dick Cheney tell him to say. However, it's his government that is abdicating its responsibility to get its act together, so excuse us if we ignore the Iraqi leadership's objection to such a conference.
