Madness

Tom Friedman writes:
Mr. President,
At this 11th hour, with Iraq’s sectarian fires raging, the only way more U.S. troops might bring stability is if you add two missing elements: a deadline and a floor.
You need to tell Iraqis that by calling for a surge in troops you’re giving them one last chance to reconcile, otherwise we’re gone by Dec. 1...
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The US political debate today has the feel of a Magritte painting or perhaps a Duchamp urinal; in other words, surreal.
Our president is so out of touch with reality he may possibly be mentally and emotionally disturbed. He is undertaking to escalate a failed war that has destroyed a functioning (albeit unfree) society, killed hundreds of thousands, maimed even more, cost trillions, spawned hatred everywhere, strengthened the hands of the West’s enemies and destablized an entire region. And he is doing so against the opposition of most of the country, his own generals, the winning side in the last election, the Backer commission - meaning his own daddy - and all of America’s allies.
What’s more, he’s doing so on behalf of a plan that even its proponents do not expect to work. (The authors of the plan, Frederick Kagan and John Keane have said "It is difficult to imagine a responsible plan for getting the violence in and around Baghdad under control that could succeed with fewer than 30,000 combat troops beyond the forces already in Iraq."
And yet Bush proposed barely more than 20,000 and failed to understand, at least so that anyone could understand, what they would be doing that we haven’t tried before. Ditto the happy talk; George W Bush: "Most of Iraq’s Sunni and Shia want to live together in peace."
It would be absurd if it were a movie - say, "The Madness of President George" - but since it’s real, it’s a tragedy - a tragedy many hundreds of thousands of times over that so many people will lose their loved one’s owing to the vanity, ignorance, extremism and egomania of one small group of delusional individuals. (And by the way, this might be a good time to ask what’s up with your Tony Blair. Is there no amount of this man’s metaphorical feces he will not swallow and call it chocolate ice cream?)
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Edited:
A Risky Game of RiskBy Maureen DowdThe New York Times
Saturday 13 January 2007
I feel good about the new war with Iran.
How can you not have confidence in the crackerjack team that brought you Operation Iraqi Freedom, which foundered and led to Operation Together Forward, which stumbled and led to Operation Together Forward II, which collapsed and was replaced by The New Way Forward, the Surge now being launched even though nobody's together and everything's going backward?
I say, bring it on. If a pre-emptive war in Iraq doesn't work, why not try a pre-emptive war on Iran?

We're trying to stanch a self-inflicted wound: our failed occupation gave Iran the opening in Iraq we're now trying to shut down.
The White House had to admit this week what has been obvious to everybody else for eons, including a list of lame assumptions they embraced during the first few years of the occupation: "Majority of Iraqis will support the coalition and Iraqi efforts to build a democratic state" has now been supplanted by "Iraqis increasingly disillusioned with coalition effort.
W. always acts like he's upping the ante in a board game where you roll the dice and bet your plastic army divisions on the outcome. This doesn't surprise some of his old classmates at Yale, who remember Junior as the riskiest Risk player of them all, known for dropping by the rooms of friends, especially when they were trying to study for exams, for extended bouts of "The Game of Global Domination."
Junior was known as an extremely aggressive player in the venerable Parker Brothers board game, a brutal contest that requires bluster and bluffing as you invade countries, all the while betraying alliances. Notably, it's almost impossible to win Risk and conquer the world if you start the game in the Middle East, because you're surrounded by enemies.
His gamesmanship extended to sports - he loved going into overtime and demanding that points be played over because he wasn't quite ready.
As Graydon Carter recollects in the new Vanity Fair, Gail Sheehy wrote an article for the magazine about W. that made this point: "Even if he loses, his friends say, he doesn't lose. He'll just change the score, or change the rules, or make his opponent play until he can beat him."
W.'s best friend when he was a teenager in Houston, Doug Hannah, told Ms. Sheehy: "If you were playing basketball and you were playing to 11 and he was down, you went to 15."
Even if it was clear who was winning, W. wanted to go further to see what would happen. It was a technique that worked well in Tallahassee in 2000, but not so well in Tikrit.
Word is that even as they Surge, the Bush team is already working on Plan C, or as they will no doubt call it, The New, New Way Forward II.
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British Plans

Fears of Shia backlash against hardline tactics12.01.07 Britain's ministers and military commanders are seriously concerned that attempts to rein in Shia militia, notably Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, in Baghdad could provoke his supporters in the Shia-dominated south, where British troops are based.Limited effect on British plans12.01.07 Tony Blair's government voiced its support for President Bush's surge in Iraq even though it left the two allies moving in opposite directions for the first time: the US is pouring more resources in, while Britain hopes to withdraw a significant number of troops by early summer.

The British government said President Bush's announcement would not affect its own plans to hand over authority in southern Iraq to Iraqi forces and pull out British troops this year, but Mr Blair claimed the divergent plans did not represent a US-UK rift over policy. "It is really important that we don't either give that impression or have that misunderstanding," the prime minister told West Country TV in Plymouth.
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Edwards Gets Key Endorsement
Abortion-rights activist Kate Michelman is expected to endorse John Edwards, according to Washington Wire. With Sen. Hillary Clinton expected to enter the presidential race later this month, this is considered a major coup for Edwards.
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John Edwards Speech Today in Harlem
excerpts

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Escalation is not the answer, and our generals will be the first to tell you so. The answer is for the Iraqi people and others in the region to take responsibility for rebuilding their own country. If we want them to take responsibility, we need to show them that we are serious about leaving - and the best way to do that is actually to start leaving and immediately withdraw 40-50,000 troops.That is why I have spoken out against the McCain Doctrine of escalation. That's why Congress must step up and stop the president from putting more troops in harm's way.If you're in Congress and you know this war is going in the wrong direction, it is no longer enough to study your options and keep your own counsel. Silence is betrayal. Speak out, and stop this escalation now. You have the power to prohibit the president from spending any money to escalate the war - use it.And to all of you here today - and the millions like us around the country who know this escalation is wrong - your job is to reject the easy way of apathy and choose instead the hard course of action. Silence is betrayal. Speak out. Tell your elected leaders to block this misguided plan that is destined to cost more lives and further damage America's ability to lead. And tell them also, that the reward of courage … is trust