5 KEY POINTS ABOUT IRAQ THAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW

From Tom Dispatch:

1. The situation in Iraq is getting worse
2. The Bush administration has no learning curve
3. The "success" of the surge was always an expensive illusion for which payment will someday come due
4. A second hidden surge, not likely to be discussed in the hearings this week, is now under way. U.S. air reinforcements, sent into Iraq over the last year, are increasingly being brought to bear. (see here)
5. A reasonably undertaken but speedy total withdrawal from Iraq is the only way out of this morass

Guess who doesn't get any of this?

McCain Insists Iraq Buildup Is Working
By LIBBY QUAID – 1 hour ago

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican John McCain insists last year's U.S. troop buildup in Iraq brought a glimmer of "something approaching normal" there, despite a recent outbreak of heavy fighting and an American death toll that has surpassed 4,000.

"We are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success," McCain said in a speech prepared for delivery Monday.