"The military consequences of Bush's new policy in Baghdad aren't knowable. But politically in Washington, it appeared to be dead on arrival. [Rep. Rahm] Emanuel's reaction was typical of leading Democrats, but many Republicans in Congress and on TV talk shows were lukewarm in their praise and a few were outright critical. Looking at Bush's grim demeanor, you sensed a presidency in eclipse: He has lost the House and Senate; he has lost the public on the war; and he has attached his presidency to a riderless horse."
"I was struck by a couple of things he [Bush] said that indicated not just a change in tactics but a whole new attitude with regard to what's necessary. He’s taking the gloves off. . . . I'll bet that a lot of folks who support the president on this are asking themselves "what if we'd taken care of business this way two years ago?"
"Frankly, as he has over the past few weeks, Bush looked like a man who is in way over his head, which he is. The man who got the country into this hole, and whose neglect and incompetence dug us deeper into into it, looks like a man who would like nothing more than to get back to Crawford. We'd all be better off if he would."
"Nationwide, the Iraqi Army and Police clearly are not ready to fight the insurgents and militias on their own. Baghdad and Ramadi are clearly two cities where the police and Army would collapse without U.S. backing. But the police and soldiers in Fallujah believe they can. Pride, courage and fighting spirit are certainly traits these soldiers do not lack. They will need time to develop the capacity to fight on their own, and time is the one commodity the West seems to be short of."-- BILL ROGGIO
"There are about eight degrees of irony involved in this. The idea that our most important ally, Saudi Arabia, is funding the Salafi jihadists that make up the heart of Al-Qaeda in Iraq is almost amusing in its insanity. It's also eye-opening to see Israel in agreement with their Arab neighbors about the need for America to stay the course occupying an Arab country."
-- THE BOO MAN
"Here we have a president forthrightly trying to win a war, and the opposition -- which not long ago was in favor of increasing troops, when Bush was against that -- won't say what it wants. . . . Kerry, Pelosi and other Democrats were in favor of more troops before they were against it."
"President Bush made it abundantly clear . . . that he intends to dump his Iraq disaster into the lap of his ’09 successor. The new way forward is actually Operation Kick the Can Down the Road."
-- DICK POLMAN
"I doubt that President Bush has any capacity to inspire Americans about the war in Iraq. . . . He's made his decision, and I think people need to support what he's doing and not undercut him by revealing to our enemies that we can be worn down and demoralized. Yet it doesn't bother me that much that Americans are not fired up by presidential speeches. We don't like war, and we especially don't like to live with a long war that doesn't reward us with distinct successes from time to time. We express our dissatisfaction, but I think most of us realize it's the President's responsibility to get us through this."
-- ANN ALTHOUSE
"President Bush said he’s ordering a surge of troops in Iraq. The last time a president had a surge, he got impeached, didn’t he? Oh, I’m sorry. That was an urge."-- JAY LENO
Photography by Agence-France Press/Getty Images
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