The Tiny Men

Wow, Bill Kristol actually said something I agree with on Iraq. The only difference is that he thinks it is a good idea, while I think it is going to be a disaster. From DKos:

Forcasting the president's plan for Iraq, Kristol adds, "I think [Bush] will say 'We can win. We have to win. We're going to increase troop levels as part of a new strategy for the sake of victory.' And, so, it will not be a short term surge."

Yep, we're going to do this, and as with almost every escalation in every war, it will not be ratcheted back anytime soon. There will always be one more hump we have to get over and when we clear it we will just find another larger hump on the other side. Whatever surge we do, those guys aren't coming home anytime soon. I mean that quite literally. The only way to do this is to extend tours of duty. We simply do not possess enough ground combat troops.

As for guys running for president in 2008 who think this the the bestest poniest plan in the world, John McCain had this silly shit to say in today's Washington Post. From the Post:

A leading contender for the GOP presidential nomination, McCain has been one of the few and among the most vocal politicians pressing for more troops in Iraq. "We left Vietnam, it was over, we just had to heal the wounds of war. We leave this place . . . and they'll follow us home," he said on a news show recently. "So there's a great deal more at stake."

This is just plain and simple crap. How exactly are they going to get here, John? Are they going to load up that huge armada which comprises the Iraqi navy? Perhaps they will come flying over in their non-existant air force. No, no, I know. They are all going to pile in their old jeeps, drive east and wait for the next Ice Age so they can drive across the land bridge from eastern Russia to Alaska. I can't believe anyone takes this fool seriously as a presidential candidate.

See Juan Cole's Top Ten myths about Iraq (#8) for a further debunking of this.