Calvinball in Iraq

Muddling Along - Ezra Klein

Finally! I've been saying this for years now that the way our policy on Iraq has run was more like Calvinball than anything that had a coherent plan and direction. So now that Klein has finally said it we can start pushing the meme that nothing in at least the past two years has had any coherency and have merely been efforts to stave off the shame that comes with admitting a serious fuck-up. Yes, brave men and women of our military forces have died for nothing, because as soon as the rules change then their efforts are nullified. We've kept changing tactics when what we have needed so dearly is a serious change in strategy. Are we occupiers? Do we have a coherent plan to wind down our commitments? Have we tried every political and diplomatic solution available and are we using those solutions while the military keeps a lid on a simmer civil war? The violence has fallen so now is the time to kick the politics into high gear. But to do that we need at least some idea of what results we want to see. And more importantly, President Bush needs to tell it to the American public. But whatever is done, this ridiculously murderous version of Calvinball needs to end.