New Iraq, Same Old Dems

Who are you going to believe? David Woodbury or Michael Yon?

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any fighting. I can’t remember my last shootout: it’s been months. The nightmare is ending. Al Qaeda is being crushed. The Sunni tribes are awakening all across Iraq and foreswearing violence for negotiation. Many of the Shia are ready to stop the fighting that undermines their ability to forge and manage a new government. This is a complex and still delicate denouement, and the war may not be over yet. But the Muslims are saying it’s time to come home. And the Christians are saying it’s time to come home. They are weary, and there is much work to be done.

It wouldn't be happening if people like Woody had gotten their way (and are still futilely trying even now).

Personally, I think the Dems see (privately) that the Surge has already succeeded, and they've already irrevocably lost Iraq as an issue. The draw-down of the extra thirty thousand troops has already begun, and they're trying to get out in front of it to make it look like they forced the White House into it. They're already in deep excrement with their loony-tunes quisling base, and trying to, as it were, close the barn door after the horse has already returned to its stall (after winning the Kentucky Derby - but not the other two jewels {Syria and Iran} of the Triple Crown) is a frantic attempt to try and save some face with the nutters after almost a year of endless losing confrontations with the President.

And that effort is not, as well, without consequences:

Now, Democratic leaders say they won't send President Bush a war spending bill this year. They calculate the military has enough money to run through mid-February.

Responding to the congressional blockage, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday signed a memo ordering the Army to begin planning for a series of expected cutbacks, including the layoffs of as many as 100,000 civilian employees and another 100,000 civilian contractors, starting as early as January, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

"The memo reflects the urgency of the situation we find ourselves in — we are in a real crisis," Morrell said, noting that layoff notices to some civilian employees would have to be sent as early as mid- December. He decried Congress' refusal thus far to provide the money needed to continue fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, accusing lawmakers of "holding hostage the well-being of our men and women in uniform, and our national security."

The delay will satisfy a Democratic support base that is fiercely anti-war. But it also will give Republicans and the White House ample time to hammer Democrats for leaving for the holidays without funding the troops.

Can you imagine a 2008 general campaign in which Iraq is not a front-burner issue? And a Donk Congressional majority that has made it its unholy mission to starve our own armed forces into defeat at the hands of our bloodthirsty Islamist enemies is? To say nothing of Iran officially joining the "club" right during the national conventions next summer, and all the perils that will spawn.

In politics, context matters. As favorable as it was to the Dems a year ago, it may be equally as unfavorable a year from now. Good thing for their sake they've got the Empress to carry their banner.

Right?