Craig Crawford’s Trail Mix: Bush’s Iraq Shell Game

Right on the Money

By Craig Crawford | 10:45 AM; Jul. 10, 2007 |
Perhaps when President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009, with about as many U.S. troops in Iraq as are currently deployed there, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill will finally figure out that they’ve been the victims of a shell game — with many Republicans playing his shill.

Once again the administration is putting out contradictory hints about plans for fewer troops, more troops or just talk of yet another “new strategy.”

As in the street version of a shell game, nobody but the operator knows which shell contains the correct answer — and, if skilled at the required sleight of hand, the operator can always move the shells around without detection.

Democrats have built their strategy upon the hope and expectation that enough GOP lawmakers will abandon Bush to allow them to take control of war policy. But until those Republicans cast actual votes to do so, there is every chance that Democrats are just getting played.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/07/craig_crawfords_trail_mix_bush_6.html