Skelton’s Requiem For The Surge

Skelton is delivering a parade of horribles about the previous five years in Iraq. “We tried everything until we got to counterinsurgency doctrine,” he said, which “worked tactically” — his emphasis; he looked up from his opening statement’s text — “but in my view we cannot call the surge a strategic success without political reconciliation.”

The chairman really is an old defense bull, to use a cliche. But he’s got the outlines of what seems to be a 2008-vintage criticism of the surge from the perspective of what you might call establishment Democrats. The surge was an energetic effort that occurred after it could have made a difference. “I could have delivered my same opening statement from our hearing in September,” Skelton said, “which means I’m either repeatng myself or things haven’t changed that much in Iraq.”