Strange Waiting Game

(UPDATED BELOW)

I feel like all this behind-closed-doors “Iraq policy crafting“ is nothing more than political games.

CRAWFORD, Texas - Already weeks in the making, President Bush's new war plan is being burnished with the assistance of top military and diplomatic advisers as critics of the war urge the Democratic Congress to resist any call for a large military buildup in Iraq.


It's unclear whether Bush will signal his desires or just seek further consultation when he meets at his Texas ranch on Thursday with Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the National Security Council.

Downplaying expectations, the White House says it's a "non-decisional" gathering. Yet advisers have set the stage for a presidential speech after the first of the year in which Bush will lay out a new U.S. strategy in Iraq where violence could be sparked by the execution of Saddam Hussein.

We all know that Bush is going to call for more troops, so why all these weird consultations and talks? Bush fully thinks that there is an enemy in Iraq that has to be defeated for the country to become stable. Because of this flawed thinking, he believes that sending more troops will solve the problem by quickly defeating the enemy and bringing peace to the country.

How fucking weird is that?

I think this quote from the article hits it dead on -

Sending more troops only increases the Iraqis' dependence on U.S. forces and allows them to delay making the painful political compromises needed to end the violence, said Larry Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense. He said part of Gates' mission in Iraq was to get military leaders to support an increase in troops.

"You can put a Marine or soldier on every street corner in Baghdad, but unless the reconciliation process begins, it's not going to make any difference," Korb said.

UPDATE1 11:35 AM

The Raw Story has a post up linking McCain’s sagging poll numbers to his support for the “troop surge” idea. It’s an interesting read, but in the end it all works out like this:

If this troop surge idea happens (it will) and if it actually works (it won’t), then Republicans will be hailed as some sort of heroes, which leads to a problem for the Republicans. This idea is completely unpopular, causing very few Republicans to support this troop surge policy, out of fear that it could be political suicide.

All this leads me to believe that we are about to face some interesting political times.

Grab a beer and watch the games begin.

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