The Republicans will hold on to any ray of flickering hope that Iraq can still be "won," no matter how tenuous. In spite of the fact that the American people have turned against the war, that the Iraqi Government in no such thing, that we have no clear mission, that this war is draining our treasury to the tune of $600 billion dollars are counting, and that by all objective measure has not made us safer, they will keep shifting tactics for "one last try."
So Monday's op-ed by pro-war "liberals" O'Hanlon and Pollack, claiming "We might just Win," an article O'Hanlon has already started to back away from in a Politico phone interview, has had the predictable effect on the Republican party.
For months, this newspaper and others have been chronicling the American shift in strategy – known by the shorthand “the surge” — the steps that are being taken as well as the enormous complications of trying to deliver lasting stability.
But the swiftness with which Mr. Giuliani and other conservatives latched onto the article – much in the same way that the Democratic presidential candidates seized on the recent National Intelligence Estimate showing that Al Qaeda has been able to rebuild – spoke to the nervousness in both parties over how the war will play in the next election.
“Wouldn’t it be a heck of a time to pull out,” Mr. Giuliani said, citing the piece, “if we were actually succeeding?”
That thought, rebounding across the conservative spectrum, seems to have galvanized Republicans once again on Iraq.
(Emphasis Added)
Maybe we should refer to every US soldier killed after September O'Hanlon's Martyrs, as he and Pollack have made the war's extension inevitable. Heckuva job guys.
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