Billmon: Failure IS an Option

The critical reaction to Bush's speech -- I'm talking here about the "respectable" establishment critics, not the antiwar left and right -- seems to revolve around three points:

• Bush falsely tried to connect Iraq to 9/11.

• He lied when he said we have enough troops in Iraq.

• Failure in Iraq is not an option.

Unfortunately, all three statements are wrong. (Actually the second one, the bit about not having enough troops, is correct but also completely irrelevant. We don't have any more troops to send, and Bush and his establishment critics both know this.)