According to those in the know General Petreaus nailed it. He looked so good in his uniform with all those pretty medals and his congressional inquisitors were so boring with their tiresome questions. It was all so well played that his assessment of Iraq obviously must be accurate and we're so glad to have this vital news at this critical time. And it was a good thing that he reminded us that he wrote the whole thing himself like the good boy he is and that President Bush didn't write any of it for him (of which I have no real doubt). Basically, the read we got from beltway insiders is that it was a real win for the Bush Administration. Oh, and can you believe those MoveOn.org buys? For shame!
Ok. Reality check.
Everywhere else in American, nothing's changed. Boys and girls are still coming home in flag-draped coffins (that we are forbidden to see) and everyone's getting pretty tired of it. Meanwhile in Iraq nothing's really getting better. The one province where the military claimed success just lost the Iraqi tribal leader who made it all possible. Basically, nobody cares what Petraeus or anybody else who supports the war says. We're sick and tired of wasting blood and treasure on this fool's errand.
Now we come to learn that once again our Democratic majority failed in a round-about measure to limit the damage. Personally, I'm not impressed. Why be timid about this? It's not like cutting off funds would have caused more soldiers to die. Without ammo and fuel, they can't go out of idiotic missions to impose peace by force and get fragged by road-side bombs. And now we're supposed to be impressed that they tried to legislate equal time at home. That still puts them in Iraq half the time. What a deal!
Why can't our Congressional Democrats just say what we elected them to say? We want out! Now! And George, if you don't start getting us out now, your last 15 months in office are going to be total hell. There's enough filth in those Republican closets of yours to keep everybody so tied up you'll wish you were in Iraq where the pundits tell us it's now very peaceful.