Has any report in recent memory delivered so little after being anticipated so much?
A commission on the war in Iraq recommended new and enhanced diplomacy Wednesday so the United States can "begin to move its combat forces" out of the country responsibly.
The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating," the commission warned after an eight-month review of a conflict that has killed more than 2,800 U.S. troops and grown increasingly unpopular at home.
Gee, do you think? "Grave and deteriorating"? Really? The report doesn't say, "Send in enough troops to get the job done." It doesn't say, "End this mess right now." Both those would be defensible options. It just says, "Well, let's get Iraqis ready to handle things so we can come home." Just muddle through the way we are now, in other words, but do it better. These people are foreign-policy experts?
"Getting out of the country responsibly," by the way, is just a way of saying "peace with honor" with less eloquence, so the results are easy to anticipate.
