No One Is Surprised

Heavy sigh.

Drudge points to this article indicating that Democrats in Congress (surprise!) are attempting to block President Bush's proposed increase of troops to be deployed in two critical areas of the Iraqi war.

I am willing to concede the following points:

1. The war has gone on long enough.

2. No one wants to send more troops.

3. Beefing up troop counts in critical areas certainly smacks of dragging this war out longer than might otherwise seem necessary.

Having said all that, however, I also would state the following:

1. Trying to force a timeline for pull out at this point in the conflict only strengthens al Qaeda's position and does nothing to ensure stability in the area.

2. Proposing, as Kennedy has done, that we only allow more troops to be sent in if there are guarantees to pull troops out is a ludicrous thought. Kennedy's proposal further dilutes troop strength in areas that today may only be marginally stable.

But, hey. The Dems are in control now. If they want to block Bush's proposal, so be it. I just hope they're ready to answer the inevitable questions when we finish pulling out of the region and terrorism seems to plague us still. The question will ultimately shift from "why are we there?" to "what did leaving accomplish?"

I'd suggest a good marketing campaign.