Confessions

Wow. Just wow. Just read it.

Well, Maybe Not Exactly

The trial balloons have been flying so thick and heavy that they formed a veritable eclipse of the sun. The media was thumping the drum that there would be dialog with Iran and Syria. It got to be so much that Mad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was strutting his poorly hygienic arrogance about saying that the West would accede to his demented plans to acquire the bomb.

Maybe not.

President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning a troop withdrawal next year, he may increase US forces by up to 20,000 soldiers, according to sources familiar with the administration's internal deliberations.

Mr Bush's refusal to give ground, coming in the teeth of growing calls in the US and Britain for a radical rethink or a swift exit, is having a decisive impact on the policy review being conducted by the Iraq Study Group chaired by Bush family loyalist James Baker, the sources said.

Although the panel's work is not complete, its recommendations are expected to be built around a four-point "victory strategy" developed by Pentagon officials advising the group. The strategy, along with other related proposals, is being circulated in draft form and has been discussed in separate closed sessions with Mr Baker and the vice-president Dick Cheney, an Iraq war hawk.

Point one of the strategy calls for an increase rather than a decrease in overall US force levels inside Iraq, possibly by as many as 20,000 soldiers. This figure is far fewer than that called for by the Republican presidential hopeful, John McCain. But by raising troop levels, Mr Bush will draw a line in the sand and defy Democratic pressure for a swift drawdown.

The reinforcements will be used to secure Baghdad, scene of the worst sectarian and insurgent violence, and enable redeployments of US, coalition and Iraqi forces elsewhere in the country.

Point two of the plan stresses the importance of regional cooperation to the successful rehabilitation of Iraq. This could involve the convening of an international conference of neighbouring countries or more direct diplomatic, financial and economic involvement of US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"The extent to which that [regional cooperation] will include talking to Iran and Syria is still up for debate," said Patrick Cronin, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "Externally, US policy is focused on what is achievable. Some quarters believe Syria in some ways could be helpful. There are more doubts about Iran but Iran holds more cards. Some think it's worth a try."

"Worth a try is not the same as a done deal. Nor is it a position of strength for Mahmoud. It may be that Bush just foxed a few people, including the jaded "realist" camp. One hopes. Here's the Guardian's capsule of the plan:

· Increase US troop levels by up to 20,000 to secure Baghdad and allow redeployments elsewhere in Iraq

· Focus on regional cooperation with international conference and/or direct diplomatic involvement of countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

· Revive reconciliation process between Sunni, Shia and others

· Increased resources from Congress to fund training and equipment of Iraqi security forces.

Surprise. It may not be cut and run after all.

Ladies And Gentlemen! We Have A Contender!

This guy is firmly in the running for Genius of the Year®, Criminal Mastermind of the Year™ AND honorable mention in the Darwin Awards! A man gets into a dispute over some stereo speakers. So, the genius decides that the right way to handle the situation is to kidnap the person he is having the problem with. So, it appears he gathered up a couple of fellow geniuses to help him out with the crime of the century. He sticks a gun into the waistband of his pants.

Which promptly discharged, sending a bullet into his left testicle.

This is not the end of the story, however. Nope, it actually gets better. The pain of the indignity he just visited on his family jewels causes him to flinch.

Which cause the gun to discharge yet again. This time the bullet, mercifully, misses the, um, original target area. But, not wanting to be a complete waste, the bullet lodges in the man's left calf.

When the shooting ended, the 23-year-old man managed to walk himself into the hospital for treatment, police said. He and his two accomplices, ages 18 and 20, were arrested for aggravated attempted kidnapping and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

You know, you don't often get a trifecta from one story all at the same time!

We Told You

But did you believe us? Oh, no. You think we're being humorous about the Animal Uprising™. You think it's all one big laugh. We told you about the terror on the Triborough earlier today. Now, from New Jersey comes this item: Kamikaze turkeys unleashing biological weapons. In people's bedrooms!

MILLSTONE TOWNSHIP — The Lane family is going out for Thanksgiving, so they do not need a turkey.

But, need one or not, the Lanes got one — the wild turkey that flew through a second-story bedroom window, right through two glass panes and a screen.

"It was very exciting," said Lisa Lane, 41. "What's so funny (is) it's around Thanksgiving, and I have this wild turkey in my house."

The drama began about 3 p.m. Monday as Lane drove up to her Laurel Court house after picking up her daughter, Lauren, 10, from the nearby middle school. Also in the sport-utility vehicle was Bubbles, the Lanes' 1-year-old West Highland white terrier.

When the flock of about 20 turkeys, occasional visitors, saw Bubbles, they forgot about their meal from the crab apple tree in the yard and took flight. But one did not clear the house.

Wham!

Turkeys are "very wary — they react very quickly and suddenly to any danger," said Tony McBride, a biologist who heads the state Department of Environmental Protection's Wild Turkey Research Project.

A turkey getting into a house or flying through a window happens every few years in New Jersey, where there are an estimated 22,000 to 23,000 of the birds, McBride said.

"Turkeys are good fliers," McBride said. "But when they are pressed, and especially with large obstacles, there's a chance one is not going to make it over."

So the unhappy homeowners called for help:

"My neighbor shows up in his camouflage jacket," Lisa Lane said. "He had a (baseball) bat in his hand."

Lisa Lane told Del Cristo, who will be 43 on Thanksgiving Eve, not to go into the house, but he did not listen. He is a turkey hunter.

State troopers arrived with Mary Klink, who provides animal control services to various municipalities.

"The lady (Lisa Lane) asked, "How do these things turn out?' " Mary Klink said. "I said, after 19 years, this is the first call I ever had for a turkey in the house."

Klink, 45; her husband, John, 50; and Trooper Richard Pogorzelski joined Del Cristo in the hunt.

"They entered (the house), hunted around," Lisa Lane said.

Mary Klink said she wanted to protect the turkey. Del Cristo, who could not be reached for comment, agreed to use the bat only for protection.

But the wily fowl outwitted them all and escaped. But it left a terrible calling card behind.

"The bird had relieved himself all over," Lisa Lane said. "The room was a disaster."

Feathers were all over. But no blood was found, inside or outside the house.

Lisa Lane figured the turkey caused $500 in damage, considering the broken window and the carpet that needed cleaning.

Jake Lane, 8, whose bedroom the turkey trashed, toughed it out and slept in the room Monday night, his mother said. Hmmmmmm, jake — what young male turkeys are called.

"He (Jake) just saved up for this Abercrombie (& Fitch) sweat shirt, and the turkey pooped on it," said Lisa Lane, adding that the sweat shirt cost about $60. "I don't know if it's salvageable."

When will people learn? These creaures are out of control….Hey! Wait a minute. Did they say an 8-year old boy saved up $60 for a sweatshirt? An 8-year old? Send in more turkeys at once!

Chuck For King

Well, if anyone really believed the "bipartisan" meme that the Democrats peddled before the election, here's the story that should disabuse them once and for all. Chuckles Schumer has flat out promised Bush will not get any more conservatives onto the Supreme Court. Or any Federal court anywhere, ever. Oh, and the loot goes to New York, too.

More than the inability to influence Iraq policy or the President’s tax cuts, Chuck Schumer says that the single greatest failure of the Democrats as an opposition party was allowing Samuel Alito to join the Supreme Court.

“Judges are the most important,” said Mr. Schumer, who orchestrated the implausible Democratic takeover of the Senate last week. “One more justice would have made it a 5-4 conservative, hard-right majority for a long time. That won’t happen.”

From now on, all the President’s judicial appointments will need to meet the requirements of Mr. Schumer, the Park Slope power broker who has happily accepted the mantle of chief architect for the Democrats’ effort to build a majority for the 2008 elections and beyond.

The Senator also intends, in the coming months, to rework the federal government’s funding priorities in New York’s favor, to steer the Democrats toward a radically new position on Iraq and, while he’s at it, to cement his position as the unofficially declared tactical guru for the national party.

And in case anyone’s wondering, yes, Mr. Schumer is entirely comfortable with this sort of power. 

Politics, Politics

So, Trent Lott is back in a leadership role in the Senate, this time as minority whip. This has a lot of folks on the right side of the 'sphere a bit upset. Since a lot of them (this was before my time) had rather a lot to do with Lott losing his post as majority leader, they are personally invested, so their positions make sense. But let me be a contrarian here: Doesn't Lott have a lot of experience in operating in a leadership role when in the minority? His biography says he served 8 years as minority whip in the House and was majority whip in the Senate before as well.

Wouldn't that experience be useful right about now?

UPDATE: I'll try and break this down into two categories: anti-Lott and Not-quite-anti-Lott (some have qualifications on their support).

Not Quite: Don Surber, QandO, Sister Toldjah,

Anti: OTB, Tigerhawk, ALF, Captain's Quarters, Redstate, Malkin, Blogs of War, RWN,

Well, rather than continue this, a lot of people have done roundups already. Let's be kind here, this is a horrendously bad move for the Republicans on a PR level alone. Lott is going to have to deliver a fabulous performance to redeem himself. The bar is set very, very high.

Welcome To The Food Chain

I get a kick out of stories like this one: It seems birdwatchers in Eastern Scotland were all atwitter (pun intended) when they spotted a very rare bird. The red-rumped swallow is not native to Britain but one showed up, apparently blown in on the wind. So the bird was spotted by avid birders. These folks, in turn, called all their friends and pretty soon there was a mob of binocular-wielding bird fanciers all happily watching the bird. Unfortunately, someone called another kind of birder, apparently.

And Mr. sparrowhawk came and ate the red-rumped snack.

News of its appearance at Lunan Bay spread quickly, and soon it was the centre of attention for birders armed with powerful binoculars and telescopes.

The species was last spotted in the area 20 years ago and has only been seen in Scotland on a handful of occasions.

But just as the crowd was enjoying a particularly good view of the vagrant after it settled on the television aerial of a farmhouse, a sparrowhawk appeared, seized the bird in its talons and flew off with its rare snack to a tree stump.

The sparrowhawk, a small raptor, is a fast and silent assassin and preys on more than 100 small bird species.

Mike Sawyer, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "We were horrified. There is no doubt that it was a red-rumped swallow. We watched it for about 20 minutes and got a rather grainy photo of it. Then suddenly this sparrowhawk came crashing through, grabbed it, and that was the end of it.

"We had just phoned people to tell them of this rare occurrence, and then we had to ring them back to tell them it had been eaten."

Bwahahaha. I wish we could hear that phone call. But, on the bright side, we now can answer this question: why is there a vulture hanging around Britain?

A vulture has been spotted cruising around England and Wales to the bemusement of wildlife experts who think it has escaped from a sanctuary in the Midlands.

The Indian white-backed vulture was snapped in royal Richmond Park in London where it drew a crowd of twitchers - but there have also been sightings of the creature in Norfolk, Snowdonia, Bodmin Moor and Cornwall.

Royal Parks gardener Steve Read, who took the photo, tried to tempt the bird with meat but it was playing hard to get - and was being mobbed by more typical avian inhabitants of the park.

The answer: leftovers.

The Sky Is Falling - Whoops, Too Late

It already did. A group of maverick scientists are seriously challenging the conventional wisdom that says massive comet or meteor strikes on the earth are fairly rare events that only happen every 500,000 to one million years. Instead they have some fairly strong evidence that a mind-numbingly large meteor strike hit as recently as 4,800 years ago. Oddly enough, numerous flood myths exist from that precise time period. But the geological record is written for all to see write on the face of the earth say the scientists.

At the southern end of Madagascar lie four enormous wedge-shaped sediment deposits, called chevrons, that are composed of material from the ocean floor. Each covers twice the area of Manhattan with sediment as deep as the Chrysler Building is high.

On close inspection, the chevron deposits contain deep ocean microfossils that are fused with a medley of metals typically formed by cosmic impacts. And all of them point in the same direction — toward the middle of the Indian Ocean where a newly discovered crater, 18 miles in diameter, lies 12,500 feet below the surface.

The explanation is obvious to some scientists. A large asteroid or comet, the kind that could kill a quarter of the world’s population, smashed into the Indian Ocean 4,800 years ago, producing a tsunami at least 600 feet high, about 13 times as big as the one that inundated Indonesia nearly two years ago. The wave carried the huge deposits of sediment to land.

Most astronomers doubt that any large comets or asteroids have crashed into the Earth in the last 10,000 years. But the self-described “band of misfits” that make up the two-year-old Holocene Impact Working Group say that astronomers simply have not known how or where to look for evidence of such impacts along the world’s shorelines and in the deep ocean.

Scientists in the working group say the evidence for such impacts during the last 10,000 years, known as the Holocene epoch, is strong enough to overturn current estimates of how often the Earth suffers a violent impact on the order of a 10-megaton explosion. Instead of once in 500,000 to one million years, as astronomers now calculate, catastrophic impacts could happen every few thousand years.

The article goes on to explain how compelling the data is. The chevron deposits contain deep sea fossils of microscopic creatures that happen to have splashes of iron, nickle and chrome fused to them. That these fossils have no business being located four miles or so from the ocean and show evidence of having been tossed about with molten metal says that something is very wrong with the consensus science.

I think that is one thing to take away from the article: sometimes the consensus is wrong. So when people tell you a subject is settled, you really need to recall things like this. Keep in mind that there were physicists who went to their graves believing Albert Einstein's theory was wacky.

The Truth Of The Lies

Holman Jenkins writes in the Opinion Journal about two stories that the New York Times peddled recently that raise grave questions about exactly how truthful the Paper of Record(ed Democratic talking points) actually is in the field of business. The short answer: why just as credible as it is in all things political these days. That is to say, it is not.

Here's an incident that made me wonder about the New York Times.

Under the headline "The Boss Actually Said This: Pay Me Less," a lead story appeared in the business section a year ago lauding a CEO who turned down an offer of stock options. "After hearing the amount from my boss," the executive wrote in a letter to his board, recalling a sizeable bonus at an earlier job, "I immediately called my father with the news. The first words out of his mouth were 'don't ever feel that you are worth it.' I don't want him to say that to me again."

Now it happens that a well-meaning source had first shopped this story to me. Though the letter had some good ideas about compensation, the personal note struck me as regrettable, an impression only strengthened by lunch with the CEO, who seemed anguished that his income was bigger than his children's nanny's. Moreover, the company is privately held; the CEO is a founder with a big equity stake that will lead to a lucrative payday if the firm goes public or is sold. Stock options just don't have the same significance that they do in a public company where boards are effectively transferring wealth from public shareholders to the CEO.

I waved the story off–knowing the source's next stop was the Times–for another reason: The "father" not named or described in the letter was, in fact, a long-serving board member of Tyco, from 1967 to 2002, who mentored Dennis Kozlowski and was dragged through the legal mud in Kozlowski's downfall. Anyone in-the-know, as surely some of the son's board members were, would have seen in the letter an allusion to his father's searing Tyco experience (a fact the reader would have to be told too), which seemed an additional reason not to offer the letter to the world as an uncomplicated upwelling of revulsion against CEO pay.

Not a word about any of this made it into the Times's lengthy rendition, which simply quoted from the letter at length, treating it as a deus ex machina from the corporate world, a CEO spontaneously decrying the greed of his kind. "One Wall Street executive atop a fast-growing firm is saying no to the piles of pay that make corporate America's world spin so splendidly," said the piece.

It struck me then and strikes me now that the problem here wasn't just journalistic gullibility or a failure to ask the obvious question. It was a lack of any real feel for human beings or messy reality on the part of a reporter known for relentless but unanalytical execrations of CEO pay.

There's also the Times' latest "whistleblower" who appears to be highly questionable. Any responsible journalist would have kicked this guy to the curb, but to the Times, he's some kind of hero. I remember reading something a long time ago that bears on this matter. Take a subject you are a genuine expert on and then read a newspaper report on the subject. All too often, you'll find that the paper has some, often many, things quite wrong. The human tendency is to shake your head, then go right back to reading the paper and believing their stories on other subjects.

Odd, isn't it? Read the whole thing it touches on the pending battle over control of the New York Times. Maybe this time Pinch can be ousted.

Terrorist Turkey Terminates Traffic

In what we here at Blue Crab Boulevard believe was a dry run for the real takeover planned for - what else - Thanksgiving day, a turkey tied up traffic on the Triborough bridge in New York yesterday. Waving her deadly drumsticks of doom, the wily butterball eluded efforts by the hapless bridge police for 15 minutes.

Just ahead of Thanksgiving, a wild turkey ruffled feathers on the Triborough Bridge yesterday when she wandered onto the Manhattan toll plaza.

No one knew how the 10-pound female bird ended up on the bridge at 3:45 p.m., but Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials saw heron their video monitors and cried fowl.

The frightened turkey skittered back and forth across the plaza, evading capture and delaying traffic for 15 minutes, as six bridge officers chased her. A construction worker finally made the capture, and a bridge officer threw a blanket over the bird.

"Watching it unfold on our cameras, it seemed the only thing missing was someone playing 'Turkey in the Straw,'" said Triborough Bridge General Operations Manager Ray Bush.

Now besides the fact that the reporter arguably makes even worse puns than we do around here, they overlook the magnitude of what happened! This was a test of security and the Keystone Cops of the MTA failed and then made the situation even worse by releasing the turkey of terror without even questioning it! Just wait until New York is cut off from the world by the power poultry of the Animal Uprising™. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Now besides the fact that the reporter arguably makes even worse puns than we do around here, they overlook the magnitude of what happened! This was a test of security and the Keystone Cops of the MTA failed and then made the situation even worse by releasing the turkey of terror without even questioning it! Just wait until New York is cut off from the world by the power poultry of the Animal Uprising™. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Get A Dog

Harry Truman is credited with creating the maxim "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog". Which could lead to some humorous comparisons if I was inclined to be snarky about this. But Joe Lieberman walked into the Senate Democratic caucus yesterday and had lots and lots and lots of friends. You know, the same folks who cheerfully threw Joe under the bus and tried mightily to get Ned Lamont elected.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman strode into a Democratic caucus gathering like he owned the place or, at the very least, like someone who is a flight risk and could leave at any minute, taking the Democrats’ new majority with him.

In other words, everyone was extra-special nice to the wayward Democrat on Tuesday.

“It was all very warm, lots of hugs, high-fives, that kind of stuff,” said Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon marveled, “One senator after another kept coming up and shaking his hand.”

And Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas noted, “I gave him a hug and a kiss.”

Mr. Lieberman received a standing ovation at a caucus luncheon after Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who is poised to become the majority leader, declared, “We’re all family.”

All of which is particularly touching in light of recent history. It was, after all, just three months ago that Mr. Lieberman became something of a party pariah after losing the Democratic primary in Connecticut but continuing his re-election bid as an independent.

Mr. Lieberman won re-election last week without help from most of his Democratic Senate colleagues, who backed Ned Lamont, his Democratic rival, over their “good friend Joe Lieberman.”

These would be many of the same good friends “who were happy to leave my dad by the side of the road,” as Mr. Lieberman’s son, Matthew, put it in an election night speech. These, presumably, would include “friends” like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, all Lamont supporters.

“It’s clear that the Democrats need him at this point more than he needs them,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, whom Mr. Lieberman genuinely does consider a close friend. “How sweet is this?”

Indeed, it is hard to imagine how Mr. Lieberman could have emerged better from last week’s election. He was re-elected comfortably, and the Democratic Party he still belongs to is now in the majority, assuring him the chairmanship of the powerful Homeland Security Committee.

Yet that majority is slim enough, 51 to 49, to turn Mr. Lieberman into arguably the Senate’s most influential member. If he defects, the Senate would effectively be under Republican control because Vice President Dick Cheney would cast tie-breaking votes.

“It was very painful to him to have all these people he thought were his friends embrace his opponent,” Ms. Collins said. “They just threw him overboard. But now, not only is he re-elected resoundingly, but he is also the key to which party controls the Senate.”

Funny, isn't it? The netroots tried their best to destroy Lieberman and ended up making him arguably the most powerful man in the Senate, at least for the next two years. I always said that the attempt was a really stupid strategic move. Because of the outcome of the elections, it turns out it is a potentially disastrous move.

Ahmadinejad Issues Orders To Democrats

AFP buries it to the bottom of a story on Iran's latest announcements on their nuclear plans. Those plans are quite chilling enough, mind you. Mad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad informed the world yesterday that they intend to put 60,000 centrifuges into operation. For those who don't quite grasp what that means, it means a weapons program. There is no reason to have that capacity for civilian fuel. But that isn't even the best part of the story. Waaaaaaaay down at the bottom, Ahmadinejad issues explicit instructions for the Democrats who just won the elections:

He also issued a warning to the Democrats, the political rivals of US President George W. Bush who seized control of Congress in elections earlier this month, to force a drastic change in US policy on the Middle East.

"The (current) failure is that of American policy, a policy of aggression, intervention and the utilisation of force. I tell those who recently came to power that if you do the same, the same destiny awaits you."

In a message to Bush and his allies, Ahmadinejad added: "I tell those who are still partially in power to use the time you have left to serve the American people. What are you doing in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the region?

"Renounce this behaviour as otherwise the destiny of all oppressors in the world awaits you too."

All that pre-election rhetoric has a cost. The bill is coming due, folks.

What Time Is It?

Time to spend insane amounts of money for a watch apparently.

GENEVA (AFP) - A 1952 Patek Philippe bracelet-watch fetched a record 1.38 million euros (1.77 million dollars) during a Sotheby's auction in Geneva.

Estimated at between 408,000 euros and 533,000 euros, the jewelry instead obtained the highest figure ever for a watch sold by the auction house to date, Sotheby's said. The watch had been little worn and was in perfect condition, according to Sotheby's.

The Patek Philippe was part of a watch auction that fetched 6.67 million euros for Sotheby's. The auction house registered its best results ever for time pieces this year, with a total 10.46 million euros sold.

It might be a good idea for whoever spent that much money for a wristwatch to spend a little money on buying some common sense. Or hire someone with it. I'm available and wouldn't charge more than 1/10th that amount annually! Honest.

Leonid Meteor Shower This Weekend

Astronomers are predicting a heavy Leonid meteor shower this weekend. They are predicting up to 150 meteors per hour, a very strong shower, indeed.

A brief surge of activity is expected begin around 11:45 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 18. In Europe, that corresponds to early Sunday morning, Nov. 19 at 4:45 GMT. The outburst could last up to two hours.

At the peak, people in these favorable locations could see up to 150 shooting stars per hour, or more than two per minute.

"We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," said Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Cooke notes that the shooting stars during this peak period are likely to be faint, however, created by very small meteoroid grains.

Elsewhere people will see the typically enjoyable Leonid display of a few meteors each hour, weather permitting and assuming dark skies away from city lights.

Ancient debris

The Leonids are bits of debris left behind by repeated passages through the inner solar system of the comet Tempel-Tuttle. Each November, Earth crosses various trails of debris, which have spread out over centuries and millennia. Dense debris trails have caused incredible meteor storms in years, past, notably 1998 through 2002.

The shower should be visible in North America and Western Europe in areas without too much light pollution. I'm hoping for clear skies.

Terribly Naïve

Before the election, Democrats, led by the far left, informed us in no uncertain terms that the small parade of retired generals who were denouncing Donald Rumsfeld had Absolute Moral Authority™ and must be listened to. Now that the election is over, those same generals are telling Democrats that a troop withdrawal from Iraq would be a disaster. Retired Major General John Batiste calls the proposals to withdraw "terribly Naïve". None other than the New York Times carries the story.

Anthony C. Zinni, the former head of the United States Central Command and one of the retired generals who called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, argued that any substantial reduction of American forces over the next several months would be more likely to accelerate the slide to civil war than stop it.

“The logic of this is you put pressure on Maliki and force him to stand up to this,” General Zinni said in an interview, referring to Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister. “Well, you can’t put pressure on a wounded guy. There is a premise that the Iraqis are not doing enough now, that there is a capability that they have not employed or used. I am not so sure they are capable of stopping sectarian violence.”

Instead of taking troops out, General Zinni said, it would make more sense to consider deploying additional American forces over the next six months to “regain momentum” as part of a broader effort to stabilize Iraq that would create more jobs, foster political reconciliation and develop more effective Iraqi security forces.

The debate over American troop levels in Iraq was raging well before the establishment in March of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group led by James A. Baker III, a former secretary of state, and Lee H. Hamilton, a former congressman. Initially, it centered on Mr. Rumsfeld’s stewardship at the Pentagon and whether the United States had deployed sufficient forces and taken the requisite nation-building steps to defeat, or at least contain, a virulent insurgency.

But as the character of the Iraq conflict has changed over the past year, so has the debate. The primary worry for American commanders now is preventing the bloody cycle of drive-by shootings, kidnappings and bombings from spiraling into an all-out civil war.

With more American than Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad, there has been mounting frustration on the part of American officials over the failure of the Iraqi government to send sufficient reinforcements to the Iraqi capital, to establish a genuine “unity government” and to effectively challenge the power of the militias, some of whom have infiltrated the very Iraqi Army and police units that the American military is working with.

In essence, the current debate turns on whether Iraqi leaders would be susceptible to the sort of blunt American pressure entailed by troop reductions. Arguing that such pressure was necessary, Senator Levin joined forces with another Democrat, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, to offer an amendment in June calling for a phased reduction of American troops, a measure he stressed has been supported by all of the potential Democratic presidential candidates. The proposal is less sweeping than most other Democratic proposals, which have called for the withdrawal of all American forces over a fixed time frame. Senator Levin’s plan has assumed more political importance following the Democratic gains in the midterm elections.

Funny how this part of the revolting general's positions never really got any play until after election day, isn't it? This is the very thing I have warned about repeatedly. A precipitous withdrawal hands the fanatics a victory. I believe it is in the best interests of the nations in that region to get involved to address the situation. Not Syria and Iran, mind you. The other nations. Unless they are comfortable with being provinces in the newly reconstituted Persian Empire. The violence in Iraq right now is being directed and supplied by those two nations. The rest of the region better start thinking about stepping up and helping to stop it. But the US cannot simply walk away here.