The Surge Must Go On

General David Petraeus, commander of multinational forces in Iraq, photographed August 18, 2007 in Baghdad


The Surge Must Go On
By MICHAEL DUFFY
Sunday, Sep. 09, 2007 By MICHAEL DUFFY


The drumrolls are over: The independent study groups have filed their reports, the President's surprise fact-finding visit to Baghdad is now a week old; the Administration's two lead witnesses will march through four days of testimony to Congress starting today at 12:30 p.m., and then, capping all the drama on Thursday night, President Bush will let the world know his "decision" about how to proceed.

It's all a bit of a charade. The President has had little or no intention of changing course since he adopted the surge strategy in January.

Certainly not this soon. The surge's architects had always imagined the U.S. offensive would take 18 months to work — and maybe more. Bush officials bought themselves a lot of time (and margin) last winter by saying the surge might only last a few months and involve only 20,000 troops. But that was a snow job; it took five months just to get the troops into position, and a force of some 30,000 troops is involved now.

Congress was skeptical from the start and demanded a progress report after nine months. But the Bush Administration never intended to treat this checkpoint as a moment of decision; it has regarded it from the start merely as a speed bump.

But nine months have passed, so Gen. David Petraeus and Iraqi Ambassador Ryan Crocker will appear in Washington this week and, barring anything completely unforeseen, tell Congress that the surge should continue. The two men will differ in tone and emphasis; they will be praised for a few things and criticized for most everything else. A few days later, President Bush will speak in prime time to accept the Petraeus/Crocker conclusions that the surge has not yet run its course.


Rest of article: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1660333,00.html