The "Stand Up/Stand Down" Iraq Strategy Is No Longer Operative

(above: the previous "plan," not proactive enough)

Interesting. We have now abandoned Bush's zen-like mantra, "stand up, stand down." Having lost faith that training Iraqis is the answer to when our troops can come home, the military "now believe[s] that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces."

Really though, this changes nothing. There is no Iraq strategy, just drift, with the occasional vague vow to "win" (combined with a helping of preemptive blame for failure, usually from the obvious authors of the failure, if anyone suggests that a "win" is no longer possible, or that our presence in the country is counterproductive).