January 26, 2007

The Gloves Are Off

An excellent essay today from Donald Sensing, who explores the new military strategy in Iraq: "Lethality is the focus now," says Sensing.

Further evidence of the new focus on lethality is the President's approval of killing Iranian agents inside Iraq. I think this development buttresses the claim that our strategy is indeed different than before. I also think that US political and domestic opinion will "wait and see" no more than six months whether Gen. Petraeus can turn things around, and the general probably knows this. So I expect that al Qaeda is going to have a very rough six months ahead of it, and Maliki will be squeezed even more to clean up his own house.

Update: Sensing tries to figure out where Tennessee's two U.S. senators stand on the "surge," and the resolutions regarding same. Good luck with that one, Donald - though I can't for the life of me figure out why two senators from a state that defied the blue tide in the '07 election and is home to Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne - and the 287th Tennessee National Guard - could possibly think that there's political points to be gained in Tennessee by voting with the many defeatist Democrats and the handful of retreatist Republicans.

There are only three basic public stances a senator can take:
1. Endorse the president's new strategy and vote against the resolutions opposing the surge.
2. Doubt the president's new strategy, but vote against the anti-surge resolutions so as not to help the defeat-seeking Democrats do what Gen. Petraeus says will only encourage America's enemies.
3. Doubt the president's new strategy and vote for the anti-surge resultions.

Right now it looks as if Sens. Corker and Alexander are going to fall into slot #2.

Update: More than 20,000 people have signed the pledge, but Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell may be caving in to the defeatists - even though Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the resolutions would "embolden the enemy". An enemy that is a bunch of barbarians.