General Petraeus and General Pace have both said the war cannot be resolved militarily. Those are the warriors. Henry Kissinger as said the same thing. He's a hawk.

So, what's left. Diplomatic and political negotiations with the interested folks. Nice theory.

Bush & Co. don't want to talk to the people who could help resolve it. The Syrians and Iranians certaily have a justifiable interest in NOT having Bush on their borders - they would have to be included.

al-Sadr, now there's a Shiite leader, the dominant religious group in southern Iraq and nominal head of many militias, it would make sense to talk with him.

But Bush doesn't like the Syrians. Or the Iranians, or al-Sadr. So he won't talk with them constructively. Calls 'em names.

Bush has a strategy guaranteed to lose. Actually, guaranteed to have lost. Even the military is saying so, loudly and publically. And Reid agrees with them. And the situation is worse now than when the CinC proclaimed "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED".

Only True Believers can look at a long, slow, steady slide down down the manure pile and talk about how beautiful are the mountains, how fresh is the air, how spectacular is the view.

And how clean the Emperor's new clothes are.

Arf