While the discussion about President Bush and his actions in Iraq has devolved into two basic sides -- the President is steadfast and true, or the President is stalling to turn the dirty business of leaving Iraq to a successor -- it seems to me like there's a third possibility no one's paying a lot of attention to. The famous unheeded advice of Vermont Senator George Aiken about Vietnam was this:
Declare victory and get out.
Does it look to anyone else like that's what President Bush is positioning himself to do in Iraq?
Today's testimony certainly laid the groundwork; we've made a big public claim of progress and shone a light down the tunnel in search of an ending. We're suddenly no longer talking about Iraq's central government, which has all but collapsed. Instead, today's conversation is about progress from the ground up. That's code for allying with and empowering the tribal and sectarian chieftains who, not that long ago, were trying to kill us. Now we're helping them secure their spheres of influence.
That's not much, of course, but at least it's a kind of security, and it might be enough to give us the cover we need to get out.
What a delightful coincidence that it would happen just before the election.
For clues as to whether this is going to happen, watch the politically uncomfortable Republicans who've recently made noises about abandoning the President and voting to get out of Iraq. If they suddenly become docile, there's a deal in the works.
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