Brookings Two Iraq Account Challenged

Interesting. The O’Hanlon/Pollack account of the glorious success of President Bush’s surge in Iraq has been challenged by someone who actually accompanied them on their tour. Anthony Cordesman, military analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joined the Brookings Institute’s Michael O’Hanlon and Ken Pollack on their recent trip to Iraq and said he did not see the same progress that they recounted so glowingly in their infamous New York Times editorial. Yeah, that same editorial that had bloggers like Bill Hobbs, Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt screaming “I told you so!!!”

ThinkProgress has the video and written report:

I did not see any dramatic change in Iraq during this trip. Many of the points, the problems which exist there are problems which have existed really since late 2004, if not earlier. I didn’t see a dramatic shift in the ability of the Iraqi’s to reach the kind of compromise that is almost the foundation of moving forward. […]

But I also want to stress another thing. I did not see success for the strategy that President Bush announced in January.

I’m sure the media, and right-wing bloggers, are going to be all over this story.

** crickets ** crickets ** crickets **

I have to wonder how many people have to die to save the egos of a handful of desperately wrong people? What a tremendous waste.