A few days back, Glenn put up his list of notable quotes from 2007, which got me searching my own archives.

Some of the best and worst ones follow.

[The key distinction] "between you and the guy you are torturing is that he might be innocent, but you are not." -- Sideshow blog commenter thebewilderness

"I'm not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I'm sure I've taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I'm sure I'm opposed to government spending on it, I'm sure I support the president's policies on it." -- John McCain, on whether condoms prevent the spread of HIV

I feel like I'm one of a handful of people who didn't go out and tie one on last night, it's so slow around the 'sphere. That's OK, we Industry people always used to say that "New Year's Eve and St. Patty's Day are for the amateurs." Vitamins, water and meat will help with the hangover, kiddies.

Anyway- Jonathan wants to know your predictions. I'm too lazy to come up with my own, but I'd like to modify his, as it's an interesting list. I confess right now that my most fevered wish is to be as wrong in my gloominess as I was in 2006 with respect to the elections.

2007 will not be a year of transition in Iraq, despite the clear mandate of the electorate and the determination of many Democrats in Congress for it to be so. The level of American troops in Iraq at the end of 2007 will be similar to the level at the beginning of the year -- significantly more than 100,000 -- while, tragically, large numbers of Americans, as well as Iraqis, will continue to lose their lives in the course of the country's violence.

Can't disagree with this one at all. Except to say: 2007 will be the Return to the Heart of Darkness. Every indicator I can find tells me that Iraq is reaching truly literary levels of madness, slaughter, and horror. We don't get to read all the details, and when we do they're often delayed by weeks or months. But simply, two things are going to be at play this year: our forces and the leadership will realize that only blood awaits us, we can't even leave without a lot of it, and "victory" is an utterly lost cause. Despair leads to poor leadership, but that is what military decision makers will feel, and process, this year.