trust but verify.

Last night's presidential address would have been funny, like out of Dr. Strangelove-funny, if it weren't quite so damned serious -- the man is sending 21K+ troops as IED fodder. I don't want to be quite that much of a downer, but given the passage from the transcript below, could you blame me?

In earlier operations, political and sectarian interference prevented Iraqi and American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fueling the sectarian violence. This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter these neighborhoods. And Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated.

Problem #1 - Maliki owes his position to Shi'ite insurgents. "Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that Sunni political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated." Fixed.

We will help the Iraqis build a larger and better-equipped Army, and we will accelerate the training of Iraqi forces, which remains the essential U.S. security mission in Iraq.

Problem #2 - Said Iraqi forces and police are also mostly insurgents of any stripe, dependent upon what region you are in. Mildly related to problem #1.

Sometimes you can just hear the clusterfuck in the policy as it's being announced. Apparently most of the country thinks so, too. Your move, Democrats -- don't fuck it up. Hm. Maybe that might be expecting too much.

(Ack, this gets more and more like Kubrick -- apparently U.S. troops have raided the Iranian consulate in Iraq.)