Kamikaze

"In a session with about ten conservative journalists Friday afternoon, a confident and determined president made it clear that he is going to see the surge through, and will rely on General David Petraeus’s advice on how to proceed come September, regardless of the political climate in Washington." (National Review)

It's always hard to tell whether a politician is telling the truth or playing to his current audience, but for what it's worth, here's the rest of Rich Lowry's story.

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The president made his intentions clear Friday afternoon. He’s not going to abandon the surge, despite all the talk of his administration being willing to move to the Iraq Study Group model of the Iraq war. He views “this period as fundamental for deciding whether or not this nation is going to be secure throughout a lot of the 21st century. And therefore when it comes to the war in Iraq, as you know, I made a decision not to leave but to put more in, and I will support our troops and support Gen. Petraeus, his plan.”

Read the whole thing. The big question is whether the President has any choice, and given the narrow margin in numbers the Democrats actually have in both houses a lot will depend on whether the Republican Party agrees with Bush. But apart from what they believe in principle, many Republicans are doubtlessly weighting the effect their public stance has upon their electoral prospects.

Riehl's World (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds) thinks that Republican Senators may be misjudging the public's mood on Iraq as they misjudged the public on immigration. Is he right? Time will tell.

Update

BG Kevin Bergner describes the progress to date against al-Qaeda in Iraq.