Sens. McCain and Lieberman were on C-SPAN last night, talking to the press over their impressions (or were they conclusions?) on the war in Iraq. I wondered how much of the expressions they bore were reflecting deep anxiety about the Iraq project. Both senators verbally expressed confidence in a victory over the enemy, and more so they spoke emotionally of the bravery and sacroifice and honor of our troops serving over there.
I had to ask myself what the real purpose of the two senator's bi-partisan trip to Iraq had been. They reported meeting with top brass over there. They said that they'd got the lay of the land. Their conclusion was that more American troops were needed to secure Baghdad and Al Anbar Province. They believed that Iraq was still winnable, but that winning was contingent on sending more GIs over.

I thought to myself what a bummer 2007 must be appearing for those people. For the marines and soldiers. But according to Sens. Lieberman and McCain, and to use McCain's exact words, folowing the status quo and not committing greater forces to Iraq, will surely end in defeat. In other words we're losing. There's some scary honesty.
And in the unlikely event that the whole enterprise in Iraq ends in defeat, either by failure to committ more troops, or if it was never winnable in the first plac, McCain resssures us that it will not be the end of civilization as we know it. It will be bad, but I think he's trying to say it won't result in nuclear annihilation. We're not quite at the book of revelations yet.

If the U.S. gets thrown out of Iraq, as we were in Vietnam, it is likely we will see the middle east redrawn on Sunni-Shiite lines. The borders drawn up at the end of WWI will be redefined. The moderates won't have a chance. Maybe Iran will come out as a nuclear super-power. But then Israel would be unlikely to allow that. And Israel has buttons and levers it can manipulate to get the states to do anything. The American people will never know who was behind the curtain. They'll say that the world is safer without Saddam Hussein. What's done is done, now it's about supporting the troops. Supporting the troops. That means don't question the administrtion. Don't ask why we got into this in the first place.