Stay the course (Until Jan, 2009)

I've been absent the last couple of days - in part because I'm really busy but probably really because I didn't have anything to say. While I have been pounding away at my keyboard I did listen to General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker's pep talk to congress. Shaun Mullen does a good job of summing up the entire testimony:

We have no long-term strategy.

We have no end-game plan.

We just need more Friedman Units, pretty please.

As well as:

The president would like you to help him kick the can down the road to 2009.

In spite of the fact that that's what I heard as well I was encouraged because I think that no matter who is elected in November the war will be winding down next year. There seemed to be more bipartisan understanding that it simply can't go on any longer. The occupation is damaging the military, damaging the economy and hurting us from a security point of view. The irony of the president of Iran being greeted with parades, kisses and yes, flowers while the Pt of the United States has to sneak in was not lost on our lawmakers - including many Republicans. What we got from Petraeus and Crocker was the same old bull shit we've been getting from the Bush administration for the last five years but there were far fewer lawmakers buying it. If there is one thing that made me sad it was to see a smart and dedicated soldier helping George W. Bush kick the can that is is foolish and failed war to the next President.