McCain and Lieberman wrong about Iraq yet again [View All]

[Poiuyt]

McCain and Lieberman wrong about Iraq yet again
by A.J. Rossmiller · 1/11/2008

In a just world, this WSJ op-ed by the "centrist" who'd like us to stay in Iraq for another 1,000 years (seriously) would be the end of Senator McCain's long political career. In it, he is either displaying an awe-inspiring lack of understanding about political and military affairs, or he's flat-out lying.

Let's go through this once again: The goal of the surge was political reconciliation, i.e., to provide a low-violence atmosphere in which the Iraqi government would agree on issues including oil revenue sharing, de-Baathification, federalism, and more. In the past year, none of those political objectives have been accomplished. There is a reduction in violence, thankfully, which means fewer Americans (and Iraqis) are being maimed and killed. There is not any movement on the political front.

When Lieberman and McCain say, "Political progress has been slow," that's the ballgame! That's the goal. It hasn't been met. The surge failed. Not the soldiers, not the military, not the people giving their hearts and souls (and lives) to the mission -- they have not failed; rather, they have *been failed* by a complete lack of strategy. And no one who understood counter-insurgency (or, frankly, international politics) would ever say that a reduction in violence in a war-torn country was akin to victory. It's absolutely disgraceful.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/01/mccain-and-lieberman-wrong-about-iraq.html