President Bush's address on Iraq

An isolated impression:

Note Bush's insistence on "flexibility" for his commanders. TIME magazine's Joe Klein says that Bush is hiding behind General Petraeus, but a comparison with Vietnam is helpful here. One of the reasons that U.S. bombing of North Vietnam was ultimately unfruitful was because it was so predictable. And one of the reasons that it was so predictable was that, during Lyndon Johnson's administration, the flight plans of the bombers were drawn up by the President himself. Dates, times, courses, everything. According to people who were there at the time, the rigidity of these telegraphed blows resulted in quite a lot of American deaths. (Not that proggy "world citizens" would give a post-pee shake about that, but that's another rant.) Kudos to Bush for avoiding that particular trap.