Republican Retreat
Voters will give the GOP no credit on Iraq if it forces an ugly outcome.

The last of the brigades President Bush ordered for his military surge in Iraq only arrived in the country last month, and they have been heavily engaged with al Qaeda in the Sunni triangle around Baghdad as part of the new military strategy. So it's especially distressing that Republican Senators should decide that this is the time to separate themselves from Mr. Bush on Iraq. ...

A moment of truth
Scott Johnson

Given the demonstrable progress made by General Petraeus and the forces under his command implementing the surge counterinsurgency strategy over the past month, I find the Democratic compulsion to mandate our defeat in Iraq incomprehensible and any Republican assistance lent to the Democrats' effort contemptible. Pete Hegseth is a native of Forest Lake, Minnesota and Princeton alumnus who served as an officer in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division. Pete is serves in the New Jersey National Guard and is executive director of Vets for Freedom. We have featured Pete's messages and letters several times over the past two years. Today's Wall Street Journal publishes Pete's "Give the surge a chance" (subscribers only, I think). Pete writes: ...

Below the fold:

• Story wrong about Iraq pullback, White House says

See also:

• The assault on the Red Mosque has begun
• Troops Storm Pakistan's Red Mosque After Talks Fail
• Michael Yon: Second Chances
  • Must read: Michael Yon meets an Iraqi stringer for the AP
• Attention, scuba divers: Uncle Sam wants you
• US faced with Iraqi Army turncoats
• Where in the world is Michael Chertoff?
• Michael J. Totten: Syria Invades Lebanon
• Video: Troops are protecting Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds, says Reid — so let’s start withdrawing

Story wrong about Iraq pullback, White House says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's spokesman on Monday denied a published report that described intensifying debate among White House officials over whether to begin a gradual pullback of U.S. troops in Iraq.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said a story in The New York Times about a proposed "gradual withdrawal"of forces in "high-casualty neighborhoods in Baghdad and other cities" is "way ahead of the facts."

"There is no intensifying discussion about reducing troops," said Snow during his daily briefing for reporters. He said the so-called "surge," or increase of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, has been complete for only a matter of weeks.

"The surge is not an open-ended commitment, it's not an occupation," said Snow. "It's a surge ... to create space so that we can achieve as swiftly as possible some of those basic necessities for the Iraqi people to be able to step up and stand in the lead. And then at that point, the Americans step back into less visible, more support positions."