WikiLeaks

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

'course, that the context of Reid's remarks when he made them, was it?

At the time he made those remarks, the surge had just begun and there was an eruption of violence in a couple of cities in Iraq. He used the occasion of that enemy outburst, at a time when he was looking for a political opportunity to defund the war, to say that the Iraq War “is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything..."

Of course, during the campaign he attempted to spin his earlier comments into something more benign. His campaign said "Senator Reid’s comment was in agreement with General Petraeus’ assessment that the Iraq War could not be won by military force alone and that a political solution was also needed as part of a two-part strategy — which President Bush refused to pursue.”

Yeah, right. I seemed to have missed the part where Patraeus said "We lost."

OK. But it's not clear to me that a decision to defund the war at that time would have had any appreciable difference in the ultimate outcome of the war. Whenever we pull out (next month or next year or three years ago), it will revert to a civil war with the Shia having the numbers and the support of Iran. Simple as that, really.