And So The Retreat Begins?

Washington Post: Bush Unveils New Iraq Strategy
New? Or an old familiar one..

CNN: Bush: U.S. to Stay in Iraq Until the War is Won
And what of the peace? Is that not to be won too?
Is this what NO END BUT VICTORY really means?
But here is the Plan. It isn't Cut and Run. Really.
And the Iraqis will manage somehow, I'm sure. We did.

It's deja vu all over again MLQ3.
Today may be another day just before "we won the war and lost the peace."
Where are all those people promising to stay in Iraq "maybe 30 years"?
I guess defeatism is beginning to look good to me too...

But here is some excellent English Commentary on this from the 16th Century --

onnet 129
Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and, till action, lust
Is perjured, murdr'rous, bloody, full of blame.
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had,
Past reason hated as swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe,
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows, yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

(0600 GMT+8) Come, Rizalist, forget about this poetry for now, okay? You have some Fourier Transform Spectroscopy to do on the Garci voice from the DVD the other night. You were thinking about why it is a trap for Congress to so easily give up it's Warrant of Arrest, something about him being a Poisoned Pawn they must not allow to bathe in the Well with that towel on his head. It's to do with that Second Impeachment next year... Look, the month of December is the month of heroes, we've the Treaty of Paris to do, and Balangiga and Rizal Day. And yes, my dear friend, it is almost Christmas, even on the Continent. Don't worry about the airplane... There will be more perilous moments to come than this. For now let us enjoy the Archipelago, where a fiery orange sun is just now rising above the mists of the Antipolo hills, and far away, near Talim Island I espy, two men in the water, their wild flight from Maria Clara's convent upended, and the Guardia Civil desperately looking for them to see who shall live.

(0730) Gracias, Señor Enrique, for joining this debate that began over a century ago and may go on for a while...Bien venida > Blogroll.

(0830) The Good News: Hammorabi (in Iraq) has this post: Iraq Defeats Kuwait in Soccer Match Now THAT'S progress.

But the Bad News is, wasn't that THAKSIN SHINAWATRA the Thai Prime Minister on prime time TV last night questioning the huge gold medal haul of the Philippines in the ongoing Southeast Asian Games, especially after the FG(?) predicted we would take 100 gold medals this time? Just Sour Grapes, or Bitter Lanzones? But there is absolutely no truth to the TEXT MESSAGES going around that the real reason for the Return of Garci is so he could help in the uhmm, canvassing of the Judges tallies. That's even more untrue than that the Philippines placed SECOND in the region-wide corruption survey, because Garci worked to get Indonesia the Gold Medal in that competition. ABS-CBN News reports.

(0930) OUR STRATEGY FOR VICTORY IS CLEAR
So why is it again that our allies freeze the bank accounts of the Abu Sayyaf leaders, but we don't? And even catch the wrong one-armed Kumander Putol?

(1730) BLOOD-FOR-OIL: That the Anglosphere invaded Iraq to seize its considerable oil wealth. Agree or Disagree...Please join the Comment Thread and let us know your opinion.

(2330) Pages 7 and 8 of the Plan for Victory contains the pith of the new Strategy:

Our Strategy is Clear: We will help the Iraqi people build a new Iraq with a constitutional, representative government that respects civil rights and has security forces sufficient to maintain domestic order and keep Iraq from becoming a safe haven for terrorists. To achieve this end, we are pursuing a comprehensive approach that involves the integrated efforts of the entire United States Government, the Iraqi government, and Coalition governments, and encourages the active involvement of the United Nations, other international organizations, and supportive regional states.

No commentary.

Well okay just one: I can't see how any Strategy can possibly be clear that involves the United Nations, where indeed sufficiency is often deemed to be enough, though necessity is often ignored in its favor. Maybe it's not Cut and Run. (Whew!) But may be it's Cut and UN. Wait a minute this sounds familiar. Isn't this the strategy of France and Germany for dealing with Iraq when it was before the UN Security Council?

THE NEW YORK TIMES thinks the speech given by President Bush introducing the new strategy for victory is indistinguishable, but for the names and places, from Richard Nixon's 1969 Vietnamization speech:

Mr. Bush hates comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq. But after watching the president, we couldn't resist reading Richard Nixon's 1969 Vietnamization speech. Substitute the Iraqi constitutional process for the Paris peace talks, and Mr. Bush's ideas about the Iraqi Army are not much different from Nixon's plans - except Nixon admitted the war was going very badly (which was easier for him to do because he didn't start it), and he was very clear about the risks and huge sacrifices ahead.

LOS ANGELES TIMES QUOTATIONS
President Bush: at the US Naval Academy: "Our goal is to train enough Iraqi forces so they can carry the fight."
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: [to Congress] "If the insurgency does go on for four, eight, 10, 12, 15 years, whatever … it is going to be a problem for the people of Iraq," Rumsfeld said. "They're going to have to cope with that insurgency over time."