The war that will never be lost as long as we stay there until the sun dies

Updated.

Michael O'Hanlon championing his own brilliance in supporting the War Without End:

The Democratic position — embraced particularly by Sen. Barack Obama but also by Sen. Hillary Clinton — is that we need to make haste for the exits. Obama rigidly calls for pulling nearly all combat forces out of Iraq within about a year of Inauguration Day. Clinton’s position leaves room for some flexibility, though her words on the campaign trail are generally similar to Obama’s. But neither candidate’s approach would be supported by most leaders — American or Iraqi — on the ground in Iraq.

Ahem.

That's because there are no American commanders on the ground who don't know that their commands are contingent upon saying what President Bush wants to hear.  He's fired and replaced everybody who didn't get that memo.

Oh, and the Iraqi commanders?

Puppets.

O'Hanlon goes on:

Only those who have concluded that the war is already lost tend to back such a position. And that latter viewpoint is far less common today than it was a year ago, or even months ago.

Far less common?  Ain't what the polls show, is it?  Let me clarify.  O'Hanlon is refering to the only people who matter to him, thumbsucking war hawks like himself for whom the War Without End is only an intellectual exercise in proving to themselves and each other how smart and tough they are.

Hat tip to Spencer Ackerman by way of Yglesias.

Updating to note that the War Without End may yet expand:  Got the heads up from Ken Muldrew. Admiral Wiliam Fallon is "resigning."  Fallon was our top military commander in the Middle East and he apparently thought expanding the Wat Without End to Iran might not be such a hot idea right now.  Bye-bye, Admiral.  Sean-Paul has more here.

Imperial update:  In case you didn't know it already, Fallon is no dove.  In fact, he's the kind of military man the Bush Leaguers ought to love.

Comments

[Linkmeister]

Apparently his opinion matters to national newspapers, or perhaps they should be included in the "warhawk" category. See this enumeration of the number of op/eds he's had in them.

I wonder if the editorial boards have ever studied the frequency with which they publish "against the grain" opinions and measured that against declining readership.

[actor212]

But neither candidate’s approach would be supported by most leaders — American or Iraqi — on the ground in Iraq.

You're assuming this only includes military leaders, which I believe is an accurate assumption.

By definition, O'Hanlon's statement is immediately nullified in the countless calls by higher-ups in the Iraqi civilian government who have asked for us to leave.

[Ken Muldrew]

That's because there are no American commanders on the ground who don't know that their commands are contingent upon saying what President Bush wants to hear.

What about Admiral Fallon who stood up and told Bush that a war with Iran was out of the question?

Oops! Looks like he just got fired. OK, you're right.

[Batocchio]

There are times O'Hanlon makes a strong bid for Douglas Feith's "stupidest f**king guy on the planet" title. Certainly he's as arrogant and unrepentant. O'Hanlon hasn't learned anything. My take is that he's so desperate for validation of his disastrously wrong views he might even believe some of his own BS as he hacks and spins away. I dissected an earlier round of O'Hanlon's BS a while back, although this Sadly, No! post does a more entertaining job of it. You've probably read Glenn Greenwald's eviscerations of O'Hanlon in the past. Our punditocracy is far from a meritocracy, and there's harsh consequences for it. Misery continues, misery is increased, and some people even die as a result. O'Hanlon can't quite compete with the core Bushies in the arrogance department, but he's close. Whatever his own special blend of sincere delusion, genuine idiocy and base mendacity, the man has been consistently, catastrophically wrong. If only he suffered as a result, I wouldn't mind so much.

[LanceThruster]

If you've ever had the pleasure of watching the sci-fi series LEXX, you'd know that it might be possible to continue the conflict even after the sun dies out as we are transported the Dark Universe (although to be fair, in the LEXX series, people on our planet were so loathesome and rapacious specifically because we already *are* part of the Dark Universe - oh well, nevermind).