[cross posted at Over the Line, Smokey!]
Today, the surge failed. And its not about casualties. Forget about casualties. Killed, maimed Iraqis and Americans mean nothing to the Bushies.
Iraqi casualties in Baghdad may be down, but US casualties are definitely up. With the Bush spinmeisters, everything and anything can indicate success: more casualties suggest the "last throes," while fewer casualties mean we're "winning."
For Bush, the surge is really just a means to the end of controlling the Iraqi parliament, so they will pass the oil law. Today's bombing of parliament showed that, one way or the other, the Iraqis control the parliament.
Circle June 30 on your calendar. That is the day the Iraqi parliament goes home. If by that date, the duly-constituted parliament has not passed the "oil law," George W. Bush's fine "adventure-in-Iraq-by-surrogates" will have officially failed.