Old Lord McCain has an op-ed in today's Washington Post which recently went online and opened for comments. Predictably, there's no new mission and the strategy is VICTORY.
The mission of these troops would be to implement the "hold" element, elusive thus far, of the military's "clear, hold, build" strategy: to maintain security in cleared areas, to protect the population and to impose the government's authority. This means establishing local outposts and forging relationships with local leaders, building intelligence networks, safeguarding economic reconstruction activities, overseeing other employment-generating projects and weaning Iraqis off of their reliance on militias for safety. Our troops would work in cooperation with Iraqi forces and stay until the completion of their mission.
Also predictable is Old Lord McCain's move to the far, far right of the President, giving the Commander-in-Chief room to maneuver toward some elusive center between himself and buddy Lieberman and American opinion:
A short surge would have all the drawbacks associated with greater deployments without giving our troops the time to be effective. Announcing that we are surging for three or six months -- or any other timeline -- would signal to the insurgents and militias that they can wait us out, and it would indicate to the Iraqi public that the enforcement of their government's authority will be fleeting. This would strengthen, not weaken, the power of the militias.
Most interestingly, Old Lord McCain believes the US Senate authorized this war, although any rational review of the AUMF will allow a reader to realize that our brave troops have accomplished all that was listed there.
When Congress authorized this war, we were committing America to a mission that entails the greatest sacrifice a country can make, one that falls disproportionately on those Americans who love their country so much that they volunteer to risk their lives to accomplish that mission. And when we authorized this war, we accepted the responsibility to make sure they could prevail.
So, is McCain crazier than Lieberman, or what?