No roaring success:

Fred Kaplan writes in Slate about the Petraeus/Crocker testimony:

I wasn't at the hearing. Like most people, I watched it on television. But a pall of paralysis and gloom seemed to drape the room. Nobody could have been surprised by the questions or answers. Nobody could have been satisfied by what anyone said. The situation is indisputably grim. Nobody seems to know what to do about it.

That was my impression as well. Searching through dense statistics to show that the surge hasn't been a failure is not the equivalent of proclaiming a roaring success. And something approaching a roaring success was what Bush hinted at back in January (We'll fix the problem, do the right thing, get results, etc.) Petraeus, by accident or design, hasn't done Bush any favors. If anything, Republicans will foolishly embrace the notion of 'progress' and continue to align themselves with the Iraq War. Democrats weren't impressive, but then they're simply letting events unfold and when the situation is (likely) unchanged or worse early next year, they'll sweep up more of the anti-war contingent.


posted by Quiddity at 9/11/2007 12:47:00 AM