Where's the Outrage Over Escalation?

Losing the Troops

Robert Hodierne writes for the Military Times: "The American military -- once a staunch supporter of President Bush and the Iraq war -- has grown increasingly pessimistic about chances for victory.

"For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president's handling of the war than approve of it. Barely one-third of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war, ac cording to the 2006 Military Times Poll. . . .

"Just as telling, in this year's poll only 41 percent of the military said the U.S. should have gone to war in Iraq in the first place, down from 65 percent in 2003. That closely reflects the beliefs of the general population today -- 45 percent agreed in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll. . . .

"Almost half of those responding think we need more troops in Iraq than we have there now. A surprising 13 percent said we should have no troops there."

Here are the results from the mail survey of active-duty personnel

Greg Sargent blogs for the American Prospect: "This is a very, very important poll. It's the most comprehensive measure in some time of the troops' attitudes towards the most important policy question of the day: Whether the U.S. should escalate its involvement in Iraq.

"Yet there hasn't been a single mention of this poll in The New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Associated Press, as best as I can determine. . . .

Throw Casey to the Wolves

In an astonishing reversal, the White House appears to be throwing formerly beloved Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top commander in Baghdad, under the train.

David E. Sanger, Michael R. Gordon and John F. Burns wrote in Tuesday's New York Times: "In interviews in Washington and Baghdad, senior officials said the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department . . . failed to take seriously warnings, including some from its own ambassador in Baghdad, that sectarian violence could rip the country apart and turn Mr. Bush's promise to 'clear, hold and build' Iraqi neighborhoods and towns into an empty slogan.

"This left the president and his advisers constantly lagging a step or two behind events on the ground."

And whose fault is this? Certainly not the president's.

Sanger Gordon and Burns write: "Over the past 12 months, as optimism collided with reality, Mr. Bush increasingly found himself uneasy with General Casey's strategy. And now, as the image of Saddam Hussein at the gallows recedes, Mr. Bush seems all but certain not only to reverse the strategy that General Casey championed, but also to accelerate the general's departure from Iraq, according to senior military officials."