It’s what I get for sleeping late, I suppose. Everybody else’s been all over this story since sunup:
AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq —(AP) [1] President Bush and his national security team made a first-hand assessment of the war in Iraq and prospects for political reconciliation Monday as a showdown nears with Congress over the U.S. troop buildup.
The president secretly flew 11 hours to this air base in a remote part of Anbar province, bypassing Baghdad in a symbolic expression of impatience with political paralysis in the nation’s capital. The gesture underscored the U.S. belief that the spark for progress may come at the local level.
Of course the story mumbles:
Critics of the war argue that while the troop buildup may have tamped down violence, the Iraqis are making almost no headway toward political reconciliation. They cite a handful of gloomy progress reports trickling out of Washington that show some success in curbing violence, but little progress toward political power-sharing agreements.
Which, of course, ignores the fact that we have to win the war before political progress can be made. But apparently, that’s their story and they’re sticking to it.