Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

Too Little, Too Late

The President made a number of points that are on target. We cannot lose in Iraq. We need more troops. The Iraqi Government must step up now. We need to increase the size of our armed forces. We will interdict supplies from Iran and Syria. He gives Iraq till November to fix their problems.

B ut...the size of the surge is only 21,000. He didn't get nasty with Iran or Syria, just a veiled threat. Moreover, he didn't say that we must stay in Iraq as long as it takes. He did not say that yet another reason to increase troops is the Iranian threat. He did not say that we will have permanent bases in Iraq. It seems that the rhetoric has shifted to when the troops will pull out, rather than staying to finish the job.

On balance, this is all he could say tonight, I believe. I support him, but he is looking weak here. OBL must be enjoying himself.

Labels: Iraq

# posted by Mannning @ 11:04 PM