Deadline

Like a breath of fresh air amid all the increasingly heated rhetoric, Cenk Uygur once again shows us the meaning of common sense in this post at today's HuffPo:

I think the Democrats should work out a compromise with Congressional Republicans after Bush's veto that they get until September to deliver on all their promises, otherwise we're out.

But the goals cannot be nebulous. There cannot be another six months, another last stand, another surge. This is last chance saloon. And here's why: If the Iraqi government has not made a political deal by then... there is no hope for success anyway.

If the Iraqis don't strike a real deal between themselves, no surge in the world can keep Iraq secure and stable. You can pour in half the world's military and still not keep Iraq together because they will have made it obvious that they don't want to stay as one unified country...

If any Republicans complain that this can't be done in six months, remind them it hasn't been six months. Soon, it will be four long years since President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished." They have had all the time in the world and they have only made the situation worse and worse through their unbelievable incompetence.

Absolutely right.

For me, it comes down to this. If the shrinking circle of cheerleaders for this atrocious situation are serious about "victory," then it's time for them to bite the bullet (sorry) and get it done. Buck up and face the truth. And that truth is that the "pacification" of this Hell their illegal invasion unleashed won't be accomplished with 20, or 30, or even 50 thousand more troops.

Jeezus - there are over 40 thousand cops keeping the peace in New York city alone, you dolts! Does anyone in his right mind believe that a religious civil war on a national scale - coupled with an influx of actual terrorist organizations due to the absence of any post-invasion planning - can be quelled by the pitiful number of troops we have in-country?

No, if those rabid supporters of Bush's vanity war mean what they say, it's time to stop the slow bleed and put a million troops in Iraq. Face it, kids, that's what it would take. Time to go all the way. Why, just drawing on the estimated 45 million Republicans who still stand behind our Chimp in Chief ('cause I'll tell ya right now, they're not gettin' any of my kids!), that shouldn't be hard for the "true believers" to do.

I've challenged Conservatives many times in this column to go out, no holds barred, and prove to me that they're right. Stand up, join up, and achieve that "victory" I keep hearing so much about. Demonstrate to me that my objections to this fiasco really are ill-informed and un-American, and that their vision of unilateral military domination is the way and the light. Put up, or shut up.

Still waiting...

Of course, acquiescing to any delay in withdrawal or redeployment is still a deal with the Devil. The architects and enablers of this moronic Administration's Iraq disaster have done nothing to deserve "one more chance". The fact that they even want one is proof of a callous disregard for the honorable lives of our troops, many more of whom are going to die while the Malkins and Kristols and Hannitys and Giulianis wave banners from the safety of their living rooms.

But fine. Go ahead. Have at it. One last time. And then, that's it. Because we "white-flag-waving, troop-undermining, Bush-hating libruls" already know in advance that Republicans will still try to do it on the cheap, in most cases keeping their personal sacrifices in this "epic struggle of the 21st Century" confined to watching a few hours of FOX News each night, before holding hands and praying that Nancy Pelosi's soul be sent to Hell.

The war's supporters should remember, however, that this blood (and there'll be plenty) will forever be on their hands, no matter how they'll undoubtedly try to spin it. We who've seen through the lies and the "armchair patriotism" from the start - and have genuinely "supported the troops" by not wanting them needlessly killed in the first place - won't let Georgie's disciples shift the blame onto the war's opponents, the shattered Iraqi population, or Bush's successor.

Unless, of course, this "new strategy" proves by September to be a smashing success. Yeah, right. Given the realities we see around us, not only in Iraq but among our home-grown Chickenhawks, I'm not going to hold my breath.