[sissyjane]

Our eternal pessimist.

[Torie]

I call them as I see them. It gives me no pleasure in this case. The situation, and the choices, are all very poor, the consequences grim. 20,000 additional troops can hardly be deemed some major new offensive. The key is the Iraqi promises, and whether they will be kept, indeed whether it is even possible for them to keep them, or whether the centrifugal forces from sectarian hatreds and maneuvering for power and advantage and revenge, is and will remain Iraq's lodestar.