Anyone planning on watching Bush tonight describe his new plan for Iraq? My dog has obedience classes at the time, so I'm gonna miss it, but I'll definitely catch up on it afterwards, at least for as long as I can take listening to Bush blather.
I was initially on board with the troop surge idea, but now I'm less persuaded that it's the right call. Believe it or not, the straw that broke the camel's back was listing to Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) on CNN this morning. Guy made a lot of sense.
Check it out if you're interested:
[url]http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Video_GOP_Sen._Gordon_Smith_opposes_0110.html[/url]
At the end of the day, I'm still open to the idea of a troop surge if there is a plan that accompanies it beyond, "We'll have more people there," but I think Smith is right that it is ultimately the Iraqis that need to make [B]political [/B]decisions to bring stability to the region -- put another way, that the solution to the problem may not be a military one.
I dunno. I also agree with him that if Bush decides that come hell or high water, more troops are going, Congress can't just cut off funding. That's good for no one.
Should be interesting. I'm really curious to see how Bush presents this -- I have an open mind about it, but he needs to be sure he follows his own advice from a few weeks ago, that more troops for the sake of more troops without a new plan isn't really a solution.