I watched most of the the press conference. It was mind-numbing as usual. The preznit stated that he has not yet made up his mind about increasing troop levels in Iraq. He said it just like he said he hadn't made up his mind about invading Iraq 4 years ago, when the whole fucking world knew he was lying. And just like back then when the news coverage was all about The March to War, today it's all about The Surge. The increase in troops is a done deal and the press knows it. They are all just playing word games with the administration to try to get someone to say it on the record.

The Joint Chiefs and the commanders on the ground are all already on record saying we don't need more US troops in Iraq. Now they are backing off a little on that by saying that they would only support more troops if those troops had a clearly defined mission. I can only hope they are telling dubya in private that peace is not a clearly defined mission, it's wishful thinking.

I doubt if it makes any difference though. At one point during the press conference, when speaking about "the enemy", the preznit said "They can't run us out of the Middle East" and at least twice he stated that we are engaged in an "ideological" war. Talk about mission creep! We've gone from preventing the eeeevil dictator Saddam from destroying the world with his imaginary nukes to changing the ideology of a people. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Crusades 2.0, now with more power.

This guy is just not capable of considering the possibility that he screwed the pooch. The only peace America can bring to Baghdad now is the kind of peace we brought to Fallujah. The peace that emanates from a pile of rubble.