We Can Always Beat Ourselves

Caught a very brief excerpt on Charlie Rose's television show last night featuring John Burns, the New York Times reporter stationed in Baghdad. To paraphrase, Burns said that Al Qaeda & Co. has concluded it will not defeat U.S. forces in the field, but can achieve its goal the same way as the North Vietnamese: By tearing down U.S. opinion. Good to know as Sen. Biden opens his presidential campaign  by declaring "disaster" in Iraq "is a real possibility." From Democrats Push Bush Harder On Iraq:

"I did not come away with the impression that the insurgency was, as the vice president of the United States suggested, 'in its last throes,' " Biden said.

Okay, that was a little embarassing.

"And unlike the president, I am not 'pleased with the progress' we're making." He called the comments part of the administration's "long litany of rosy assessments, misleading statements and premature declarations of victory. . . . The disconnect between the administration's rhetoric and the reality on the ground has opened up not just a credibility gap but a credibility chasm," which is "fueling cynicism that is undermining the single most important weapon we need to give our troops to be able to do their jobs, and that is the unyielding support of the American people."

But there is progress, hence the Chrenkoff series, which is the kind of thing we have to rely on with Biden on the one hand and the Post on the other. The rest of today's Iraq coverage: Little Change In Troop Levels Expected Soon, and After Striking Rebel Route, Marines and Iraqis Pull Back, and Maryland Family Mourns Casualty of Iraq War.

All part of the story.

Part.