Meanwhile, In Iraq...

Haven't checked in on the war in a few days... how's it going? Still shit? Okay then!

First up, Gen. Petraeus reiterates the obvious-

The new US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, urged Iraq's leaders on Thursday to put aside sectarian rancour and warned there was no "military solution" to the nation's conflict...

..."There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq. Military action is necessary to help improve security... but it is not sufficient. There needs to be a political aspect," he said.

Petraeus was speaking inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone after three days of attacks by Sunni insurgents on Shiite pilgrims left more than 150 dead and dramatically increased political tensions...

And yet there has been no real acknowledgement by the civilian administration leaders of this reality as they continue to throw more soldiers into a lost battle in the hopes of dragging this out for another year or two putting out the flames we have fanned.

Already there are concerns that the escalation may get more escalated-

The number of U.S. troops needed to carry out President George W. Bush's Iraq security plan could approach 30,000, significantly more than he projected in January, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

Why, it's Vietnam deja vu all over again!

And a Washington Post article further reiterates the obvious... the administration has no backup plan for if when their current plan (stay the course, but with extended tours of duties for soldiers) fails. "Plan B was to make Plan A work," the Tennessee governor recalls Gen. Peter Pace saying.

Regional diplomacy helps, but we hardly have a strong hand to play there.

And what of Congress? The Democratic party, and its base to a much larger extent, is increasingly frustrated with its inability to push through any measures to wind down the war. Sen. Feingold said last week that "It’s still George Bush's war. But we run the risk of gaining some ownership of it if we don’t make it absolutely clear that we are the party that wants to get out of there," a warning to his colleagues that it's time to stop playing around.

And so today House leaders unveiled their 17th latest plan for ending the war-

In a direct challenge to President Bush, House Democrats are advancing legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the fall of next year....

Right before the election??! {*shock*} What a coincidence!! More-

...Democratic officials who described the measure said the timetable would be accelerated — to the end of 2007 — if the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki does not meet goals for providing Iraq's security.

The conditions, described as tentative until presented to the Democratic rank and file Thursday, would be added to legislation providing nearly $100 billion the Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan...

Easy bets: Speaker Pelosi will be able to rangle up support for this in the House, but in the Senate things will grind to a halt. Republicans will foam at the mouth about "the troops! the troops!" and how treasonous Democrats are plotting to murder us all. The media will be easily confused/bored by all this and report on more frivolous stories. The President will pound a podium, if he speaks at all. The House leaders will be forced back to the drawing board. Wash, rinse, repeat.

And if this Daily Kos blogger is any indication, most people's patience is wearing thin-

The point is not to come up with a be-all, end-all Iraqi plan this week or next to shove down the administration's throat. The point is to start the plan. The point is to lead. The most absolutely critical thing, right here, right now, is to begin limiting the ongoing damage...

...There are no good ways out of Iraq: every path is dangerous. That is precisely why so many experts shuddered at the long-term damage of this "preemptive" war. There are no good answers, and events on the ground may dictate altering any proposed plan three months from now, or six months from now, or a year from now -- a shocking concept lost on the Bush administration these last few years.

Fine, then: alter it when the time comes. It is not necessary to end the war tomorrow, it is necessary to do what the Bush administration is entirely incapable of, which is to define how to end it, and start working towards that goal...

...Quit jockeying for position among yourselves. Quit expecting ultraconservative apologists to offer anything more than plans to get more people killed and call it "progress". Quit expecting anything but another two years of incompetent buffoonery from the Bush administration. Quit expecting bipartisanship. Quit expecting miracles that haven't come for three years, and aren't just over the horizon now. And quit expecting patience...

What he said.

And that's where we stand... and where I fear we will remain for some time.