Speech aftermath

We're still divided here, but amazingly, so are the Iraqi people. Think about that for a moment--under Saddam we would not have known their thoughts.

Speaking of flip-floppin waffles, Bush has pulled the ultimate with Iraq, no doubt. MSNBC had a montage of Bush speeches from 2001 through present, which was rather devastating. I don't fault him--he was not going to admit defeat even if it was occurring in an effort to keep up morale. With the Democrats' victory he really had no choice.

But the Democrats have been doing their own waffle dancing. First they said we didn't send enough troops, then they said a surge might work, now they want to "bring an end to this war", ie, bring everyone home. When asked if they really want to bring everyone home they say, no, we'll redeploy them. But that won't "bring an end to this war". These are the same Democrats who thought Saddam was once a world threat.

Meanwhile, the subtle references to Iran were perhaps the most impactful parts of Bush's speech. Ironically, or maybe not, we have another story of Iranians caught in Iraq suspected of causing trouble. I think we should keep in mind that one, Bush cannot divulge all the details of this plan to the public, and two, by mentioning Iran and Syria and saying they "considered" the Baker ISG plan, that means the actual approach might be just the opposite. Shutting down those entities is the only way we can win.

PATRIOTS 1/11/07

Formerspook caught mention of something in the WaPo that other major bloggers seemingly haven't:

"We will expand intelligence sharing, and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region."

True, Patriot batteries can provide an important symbol of our willingness to protect our friends. But they're most useful in defending key facilities and population centers from air and ballistic missile attacks. It doesn't take a military analyst to understand that there's something larger at work here.

What people did notice was Bush's melancholy demeanor, which produced predictable reactions from each side. Leftists considered it an admission of defeat, while some righties thought Bush had suffered an intervention or was trying his hardest to appear contrite. It seems more likely a stone-faced effort to conceal the real way forward. Our actions in Somalia should clearly indicate to the world his backbone is still firm.

And if this fails, and it might, there is simply no way Bush will allow Persian hegemony as a byproduct. They'd sooner go after an Ayad Allawi type strongman than to allow that.