Bush's war escalation

Nicholas Kristof has a good op-ed piece in the NYT today:

An Escalation of American Blood

A surge in the number of troops in Iraq might have helped in 2003 or early 2004.

But in 2007, President Bush’s plan seems to represent a warmed-over variant of approaches that have already been tried and mostly failed, that are opposed by some top American military commanders and ordinary Iraqis alike, and whose most likely outcome will be many more Americans in body bags or wheelchairs.

The reality is that we’ve already tried surges. There was one of 20,000 troops in early 2004, a similar one in the fall of 2005, and one a bit smaller in the summer of 2006.

As recently as July, Mr. Bush cheerily described a plan “to deploy additional American troops and Iraqi security personnel in Baghdad in the coming weeks.” He explained that this would “bring greater security to the Iraqi capital ... [and] root out those who instigate violence.”

By October, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, was acknowledging that the recent troop increases “had not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence.”

Bush isn't going to listen to, let alone read, Kristof, of course, but I wonder if Bush would stop and listen to himself:

June 28, 2005

Some Americans ask me, if completing the mission is so important, why don’t you send more troops? If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job. Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight. And sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever, when we are, in fact, working for the day when Iraq can defend itself and we can leave. As we determine the right force level, our troops can know that I will continue to be guided by the advice that matters: the sober judgment of our military leaders. (A big thanks to the folks at ThinkProgress who have posted a video of Bush saying this.)

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

Yes,'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
-Bob Dylan, Blowin' In The Wind