Earlier this week, the president told Charlie Rose that we’ll know about the success of his “surge” policy by August. So much for that idea.
The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush’s top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited, according to senior administration officials.
In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year.
That prospect would entail a dramatically longer commitment of frontline troops, patrolling the most dangerous neighborhoods of Baghdad, than the one envisioned in legislation that passed the House and Senate this week.
So, to review, the “short-term surge” is a long-term escalation, the administration no longer has any confidence in Maliki, and the only hope for the future is that somehow, the crisis starts to improve, though no one’s quite sure how, why, or when that might happen.
But we’re supposed to maintain confidence in the White House anyway, because Congress isn’t trustworthy on the war.
We’re stuck in a Twilight Zone episode.