Like an old dog that cannot learn new tricks, the Charlatan used a captive military audience at the Coast Guard Academy to sow fear among the people. He reintegrated his discredited claim that Bin Laden sought to establish a cell in Iraq that was capable of attacking the U.S. It is the lowest of political tricks and an indication of the man's desperate attempt to justify his reckless decision to invade Iraq. Despite his obstinate refusal to accept reality, he is right about one thing. Al Qaeda is in Iraq now, but only because he insisted on overthrowing a dictator--which our government backed at one time--who refused to do business with Bin Laden. Because of his invasion, the Charlatan has actually made America more hated and less secure. Instead of convincing the President to begin an phased withdrawal, the Republicans are attacking John Edwards because he dared to speak the truth. The GWOT is a bumper sticker masquerading as foreign policy. If Republicans and Democratic hawks continue to allow this reckless expenditure of lives and money, the ensuing disaster will exceed the dimensions of the defeat in Vietnam.
In order to keep troops in Iraq and bully Congress into spending more on the war, the Charlatan now claims the terrorists will "follow us home" if the army redeploys from Iraq. Even the troops on the ground know that their position in the middle of a civil war is untenable. US soldiers in a Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad call their fortified position "the Alamo". An army captain in command says the' surge' has increased enemy resistance and worries that this period "will go down here as their surge, not ours". The boy cried 'wolf' once too often. So has the President.
Weekend Update: British papers report that General David Petraeus sees the writing in the Book of Daniel and will change his strategy from force to negotiation in an attempt to reduce sectarian conflict. The 'surge' is not even completed, but it was doomed for the start as being too little, too late. Nouri al-Maliki has also proven to be totally unreliable as a strategic partner. Iraqi government forces are simply too compromised by divided loyalties to be effective. But being a team player, for which he received his fourth star, General Petraeus towed the White House line on 'victory' in Iraq despite the improbability of success.