Debating Defeat

"I don't know whether 21,500 more US soldiers will make the difference between success and failure in Iraq, but I do know that the debate over the administration's "surge" plan is profoundly detached from reality. The issue that critics should be raising is whether the revised US strategy for Iraq and elsewhere will successfully thwart Islamist designs not only in Iraq, but throughout the region.

Iran and Al Qaeda have been asserting themselves not only in Baghdad and Anbar, but everywhere from Somalia to Lebanon to Afghanistan. I can't say I was overwhelmed with satisfaction at Bush's speech on the matter, but at least he addressed the wider implications of events in the region. His critics on Capitol Hill don't seem interested. Indeed, the televised response by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to President Bush's speech on Wednesday did not even acknowledge the broader stakes of US failure. Durbin had not a word to say about Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas, or any of the other forces salivating at the prospect of a US withdrawal. It was an unworthy opening critical salvo, and it has been followed by even worse."
IraqiPundit