This month -- September -- has been variously described by the authoritarians as the do-or-die month for the "surge" in Iraq. This is when we'll "know" whether it's working and, based on that, decide what to do next. Well, as you may have noticed, it's not working.
It was obvious that it wouldn't, of course. Out of 15 benchmarks required by Congress, only three have been met, and even then only if you stare at them just right. Report after report is coming out of Iraq saying that violence is rising, deaths are rising, refugees continue to stream out of country, and the Iraqi government exists in little more than name only.
Yet already the presses are being primed to spin one or two minor improvements in minor details as sufficient cause to Stay The Course(TM). "Just give us another Friedman Unit and then you'll really see improvement."
In other words, exactly the same rubbish we've been fed for the last four and a half years.
This whole Stay The Course mantra reminds me less of steadfast determination and more of a compulsive gambler, hovering over the roulette wheel, always betting on double-zero. Everyone around him urges him to spread his bets, cover other numbers, place an easy bet on red or black, or even move to a different game entirely. But no, he persists with double-zero.
Eventually, the ball falls on his number. Heedless of how much he has lost to get to this point, both in money and in reputation, he punches his fist in the air and victoriously proclaims, "See?? All it took was faith and determination!"
No. All it proves is that, by random chance, even an abject fool will on occasion be right.
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