The Democrats Prepare to Blow It on Iraq

Call it the Stockholm Syndrome on the Potomac. Harry Reid and company are still talking like hostages - not the party about to be in power in Congress, the party that could end our involvement in Iraq. They're also falling all over themselves to assure America that they will not pursue the administration and make them pay for defrauding us into this war. Why not? Is it honor among thieves?

Politicians love World War 2 analogies, so here goes: It's as if a formation of World War 2 bombers was flying along and the bomber called the Iraq Belle has been hit. The plane is smoking and the crew is bailing out. It is obvious to every one that the Iraq Belle and its mission are going down. Meanwhile, the Democrats in a nearby plane are trying to figure out how to jump from their plane to the smoking one, so they can ride the doomed bomber to the ground.

This latest plan to send more troops could be the quintessential dumb decision of the Bush Years, and that is saying a great deal. It shows that despite all the evidence in the world that something is not working, President Bush is still willing and able to make it worse. It's the Iraq Stalling Group - delay the inevitable failure, and give the Public less time to look back and demand some punishment. War crime trials usually take place only after the war, so why end the war?

The idea that 20 or 30 thousand more troops will matter is ludicrous. This country is as big as California. This is a symbolic bandage on a corpse. Meanwhile, Harry Reid has announced that a surge in troops is fine with him, just so long as it's temporary. Too bad the young Americans who are being slaughtered in this thing, don't lose limbs temporarily, or die temporarily.

Have you been paying any attention to the anecdotal evidence that's pouring out of Iraq? By the way, the Iraq Study Group had a damning paragraph about how badly underreported the violence has been. Of course, it was on a page towards the end so we know Junior didn't get there, but think about it: While we've been lectured all these years about how the media doesn't tell us the good news out of Iraq, the opposite is actually true. There is a whole bunch of bad news we never hear.

The reoccurring description soldiers give involves driving down a road during the day and having IEDs explode. Then during the night they withdraw. They do not have enough troops to secure the road, so the road is wired again. The next day, our soldiers have to drive back down the same road and face the new IEDs. That is the definition of madness, and 20 or 30,000 more troops won't change it. Think of the roads in California. How many soldiers would it take just to secure I-5? Meanwhile, we haven't even secured the road in from the Bagdhad airport, and it's been years.

War is often used as a metaphor for madness, but some fundamentals of war do make sense. The Japanese held Iwo Jima, we attacked and lost a lot of men, but then we held the island. That was accomplishing something.

Think of the streets of Iraq as a million Iwo Jimas. It's as if we invaded and lost men in the process each and every day, but every night we gave the islands back to the Japanese. It's absolute madness.

My hope is that Stockholm on the Potomac Syndrome will end in January. Harry Reid and company may have to feel the power coursing through their veins, to wake up from their slumber. They will have much more of a platform to describe how leaving Iraq is not bad for our defense. It's good for our defense. Nobody knows what would happen if the American presence there ended. Hell, there's a chance the place could settle down.

Maybe it's all one of those political ruses. Harry Reid's going to play good cop and let Nancy Pelosi play the bad cop on this, but Democrats have the power to end this war, and that is what they should do. Each and every Democratic politician should think about their careers if they don't get us out of this. Think about the phrase "temporary surge." It could just as easily describe the Democrats return to power.