The ISG: BFF

In reading David Broder's column on all the glorious compromise in the report, I really got the impression that these guys were planning a class reunion rather than an end to the bloodshed in Iraq. Consider this quote from the Post:

"We went over the recommendations word by word until everyone was satisfied," Simpson said. "No one was trying to sneak anything in, and no one was laying traps. It was a very powerful experience."

Not like back in the day like when Vernon Jordan sent away to the printers that our prom colors were orange and fuchsia (I'm not sure fuschia existed as a color back then), or the time when we sent away for our class shirts with everybody's name on it and Lee Hamilton put dickhead in parenthesis after James Bakers name (This actually happened at my high school).

Serious.

Anyway, I'm off to Florida and will be offline.

The Iraq Study Group

Well, obviously the big news story today is the release of the Iraq Study Group. On the surface it is pretty much what I expected. With so many people throwing out the need to add twenty to thirty thousand more troops, you know it was leaked from this report. Those people aren't that smart.

Everyone knew that there would also be a regional engagement part of the plan, and of course it's bi-partisan so there has to be a clap harder component. Will these things work? Probably not, We've still got a petulant child calling the shots.

It is actually coming out in hard cover, so while I'm on vacation maybe I'll see if I can find it. Then again, maybe I'll just spend the next five days eating, drinking, and going to strip clubs. Probably will be the latter.

Update: Jesus, the thing is only 160 pages, I might be able to do both.