The Scarlett O'Hara school of foreign policy

By Libby

White House: We won't think about that today. We'll think about that tomorrow...

WASHINGTON, April 27 — The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush’s top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited, according to senior administration officials.

In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year.

Could it be any clearer that the surge strategy has become another tragedy of miscalulation? Maliki is useless. Violence is not really abating countrywide and we've given up on training the Iraqis. The new plan is to go back to the old plan and hunt down the insurgents -- whoever they are this week -- one by one.

Every "new" plan appears to have one ultimate goal. Hang onto to the occupation until a miracle occurs and the sectarian factions make peace or until Bush leaves office so he can skulk out of town and leave his mess for somebody else to clean up.

Sadly that's the best we can hope for. I keep thinking about that suspension of Posse Comitatus provision the White House snuck through last year. The conspiracy theorist in me still can't quite discount the possibility that the real plan is to create such a mess in the Middle East that when 08 rolls around, Bush might decide that elections have to be suspended in a time of war. It sure would be useful to have authority to call out the troops against their fellow Americans in case the hoi polloi insist on upholding that goddamned piece of paper.