by Lynnell Mickelsen

BarbinMD over at Daily Kos gives us an up-close look at what appears to be Bush's new strategy in Iraq, i.e. the surge..

As BarbinMD reports, Fred Kagan, a noted neocon from the American Enterprise Institute, discussed the coming strategy in an interview with Wall Street Journal editor, Paul Gigot, during today's Journal Editorial Report.

"We're proposing a surge of four brigades, which is about 20,000 American combat troops into Baghdad and a number more, totaling about 35,000 American combat troops into other places in Iraq........" said Kagan, quoting from the AEI's recommendations for Bush.

And how long is this surge going to last?

Kagan: "I think that there's going to have to be a sustained surge through the end of the Bush presidency....."

Hello? Got that? We're now talking up to 200,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq right up to January, 2009. At what cost?

Kagan: "You will have more American casualties in the short term. I believe that you'll have fewer American casualties taken overall. And I think that there will be American casualties in a winning effort, which I think matters a great deal...tragic as any loss of life, of course, in this war is...."

Ah, spoken like a true member of the ruling class. Notice how Kagan says "you will have casualities." Not "we." But
"you." As in "You (lower class) people will have casualities." Because Lord knows neither the Bushies nor their wealthy Republican pals at the AEI have any intention of sending their own kids or friends into the Iraq meat grinder. Even though they say the future of Western civilization rests on us "winning."

Force yourself to read the whole analysis at Daily Kos. And check out the AEI PowerPoint they probably showed to the The Decider, assuming W. was able to pry himself away from his exercise routine and gameboys for that long.

Because this plan is nuts. Totally insane. Kagan told Paul Gigot on the Journal show that "this nation is going to have to make a real committment to this war." It's as if the message voters sent in November didn't register at all.

Col. W. Patrick Lang, a retired senior military intelligence officer who served with the Green Berets and was also the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point calls this plan Stalingrad on the Tigris and says "the carnage implicit in this concept would be appalling." And the veterans in his comments section are even more horrified and sickened.

So why is Sen. Harry Reid appearing to give cautious support this insanity?

John Aravois and Atrios say Reid isn't serious. He's just playing chess with the Repubs.

I hope so. Because the last time a U.S. president decided to escalate a war in order to win, we ultimately lost over 57,000 soldiers. And we still lost. Frankly, I'd prefer less chess and more straight talk from Democratic leaders. Because this surge plan is crazy.

Meanwhile, we ordinary citizen types need to get ready to pray, protest, write, lobby, march because ending this war ain't going to be easy. And it doesn't look like it will be ending any time soon.