Between Iraq and a hard spot

Or, is President Bush finally getting the advice that he needs? Melanie Phillips offers this to ponder:

Those who said, when the Democrats routed the
Republicans in the US mid term elections, that the celebrations by the
surrender brigade were premature and that President Bush was made of
sterner stuff, may be in the course of being proved correct. There
are now signs of a debate taking place in Washington, which might just
move the US away from self-delusion and towards hard-edged sanity. The outcome of this debate could not be more critical....

September 19, 2001…

“The mindset of war must change,”… “It is a
different type of battlefield. It is a different type of war.” The
battles, “will be fought visibly sometimes, and sometimes we’ll never
see what may be taking place”.

December 28, 2006

In January 2003, former Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld designated the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) as
the lead military organization to prosecute the global war on terror but unfortunately that has not materialized.

The
war effort has been under the command of the traditional armed forces
instead of the U.S. Special Operations Command. This changes with the
assignment of David Patraeus.

There is significant movement afoot: Leadership changes at DNI, UN,
CENTCOM, State, and a new SecDef. Unrest and political uncertainty in
Iran, and the discovery of “smoking gun” intelligence of Iran’s
complicity with both Shia militias AND Sunni alQaeda. Add to that, a
majority party in Congress which is willing to give the President just
enough support to be able to fully blame him if they are right, and
share in the credit if they are wrong. And last but not least, just
maybe, a CIA that can remember that the middle initial stands for
“intelligence”.