Opinion (Philip Gailey): Iraq 'surge' won't solve quagmire

So much for the long-awaited Iraq Study Group's report on the "way forward" in Iraq. It made headlines but not much of an impression on President Bush, who has suggested that some of the bipartisan panel's key recommendations were "ideas for defeat." Bush plans to speak to the nation in January on his next move in Iraq after consulting with military leaders and his own national security team. We should be worried, especially with the news that Bush has begun imagining parallels between his wartime leadership and Harry Truman's.

Some of us assumed the debate in Washington by now would be on the study group's call for the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces in early 2008. But instead of debating how to get out of Iraq, we're considering whether to get in even deeper with a "surge" of additional troops, as if that is likely to change the outcome.

Sen. John McCain, who apparently believes the road to the White House in 2008 goes through Baghdad, is the loudest voice for sending in reinforcements, seemingly oblivious to the fact that no one is sure where the military would find them. On a visit to Baghdad last week, McCain told reporters that American military commanders in Iraq were discussing the possibility of adding as many as 35,000 combat troops to try "to bring the situation under control."

Has anyone been listening to Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East?

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