DC is hot. Anybody who counts is on vacation. As Cheney might say, that all changes on Labor Day. Most people know the facts. Some are already claiming limited success for a failed surge. Failed, because nothing has changed. Yeah, the success will be claimed on a lessening of violence from July to August, only compared to August of last year the violence is up. Oh its fucking hot in Iraq so everyone knows the bodies just stink, so don't get too excited about there being less violence than in March. There is always less violence than in March.
Then there are the stories about Sunni tribesmen going after Al-Qeida. I remember the body counts from Nam. Any dead Vietnamese was a member of the Vietcong. Any evidence that any dead Iraqi isn't counted as Al-Qeida. From what I can tell the Sunnis are collecting weapons and settling old scores while they wait for US soldiers to leave. Any evidence to the contrary, besides the body counts. Get real!
Then there is the oil compromise. US news sources says the compromise is all about who gets the oil, Sunnis, Shia, or Kurds. Yeah the compromise is about who gets the oil, Iraqis or private companies. About the only thing Iraqis agree upon is that Iraq's oil is for Iraqis. And Cheney dreams of more money for Haliburton.
Everybody also knows the Democrats are coming to town and they have the ability to shut the war/occupation down by not allocating money. Will they? Do they have the guts? Can their opinion rating get any lower?
If Democrats would only fight. Send a bill to the president with the US getting out of Iraq within 12 months or faster if the pentagon can get the logistics working right. Let the president veto the bill and send the same bill to him again and again. Let the bill be filibustered in the Senate by republicans. Are Hillary and Obama strong enough to filibuster a bill that does not get the troops out? Do they have real leadership ability or are they wimps?
What democratic politicians fail to appreciate is that the Democratic Party is on trial. The ability of the party to fight Bush and Republicans or as "our girl Hillary" puts it stand up to the vast right wing smear machine is on trial. If Hillary and Obama fail, the party may fall apart.
Imagine the following scenario, Hillary is nominated in February and Unity 08 puts together a Gore/Edwards ticket. Think it cannot happen, think again. If independents and liberals think the Democrats cannot get the job done, then their votes go else where.
Republicans will laugh all the way to the polls when they learn Gore/Edwards did the impossible and a new party is formed. There are many ways this could work, but democrats have to fight for what they believe or become irrelevant.