Why? Why are they so blind? Or is this a foil matter, and Levin has been told by the war profiteers who fund his campaigns that the gravy train must not end? For fuck's sake, please point out to me the last time Bush compromised with Democrats, on anything? Compromise, bipartisanship, date rape...they're all the same thing, but our "leaders" seem to be unaware of how and why that keeps happening to them.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Democrats may be ready to compromise in the showdown with President George W. Bush over linking funding for U.S. troops in Iraq with a timetable for withdrawal. Read more…

As usual, Chris speaks for me. It's long but well worth the read. Particularly this point:

And so immediate withdrawal, while still the "best" option on the table, is far worse now than it would have been a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. Again, this is the reality. This is what we can't escape. There is no good way out. There is no good way forward. Tonight, tomorrow night, and for nights uncounted to come, some innocent will die in agony because of what we've done.

Every day we don't have "serious" adults and thinkers working on the problem, this is true. Every day we waste trying to decide if "it's a civil war" is another life lost, another dead American soldier. As in Vietnam, it will be the outcry of the people that force our "leaders" to stop screwing around, to stop bickering over which policy is more or less domestically savory, to stop avoiding asking the hard questions. Crime is not a big enough word to describe what those responsible for this mess have done; I include Democrats on this list, especially those who would placate the hardliners in Israel in order to improve their chances in 08 over here. Iraq isn't going to magically just go away, nor is the situation there going to do anything but deteriorate every passing day we "stay the course."