GregsOpinion.com

What else can be said about Bremer now coming out critical of the troop levels in Iraq. Atrios has a good knock on the affair. Good, but not my fave. The best hit, for my money, comes from National Review's The Corner.

What? You fail to see how a conservative rag can possibly dig in on this story when it hurts their side?

Michael Ledeen shows how ....

I see where Jerry Bremer is beating up on the Pentagon for the "sin" of not having enough troops for Viceroy Bremer to deploy where and when he wished. No big surprise there; he's a State Dept guy, after all. But somebody might think to point out that he was a driving force behind the catastrophic decision to call off the Marines just as they were on the verge of smashing the terrorist enclave in Fallujah. And that wasn't because we lacked troops. It was because we lacked will. He was afraid the Sunnis on the Governing Council were going to resign, and that would make him look bad...so let's keep proper perspective on who's responsible for what in Iraq, ok?

Aside from the legit crank on Bremer for not accepting any burdens on his own shoulders, what I believe Ledeen says, by implication, is that the Bush administration basically gave veto power over our foreign policy to Iraqi Sunnis on the Governing Council. Sure, Bremer pushed for it. But where's that so-called resolute, bold leadership that doesn't send mixed messages and works really hard when you need it most?

Alas, even Bush cannot admit this one as a mistake. You'll recall from Debate-1 that his principal mistake in Iraq was that we won the military battle too darn fast. So either Ledeen is full of crap or Ledeen just accused the Bush administration what every rightist crank says Kerry will do if elected. Tough call.