[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See the links at post #5 for discussion on that point .....maybe this will be more direct:

Beat Me
[Soldier's Dad]

Scroll down....and you will find this:

General Patraeus will be confirmed by the Senate soon.
Probably by close to a unanimous vote.
He has said he needs more troops to secure Baghdad.
Various Senators, who will vote for General Patraeus as the "Man to Accomplish the Mission", will then vote to deny the man the tools he has told them he needs.

Then we wonder why after decades of trying to find solutions to the problems if the Middle East we are standing at square one. In the insanity called Washington, the "Man with the plan" is denied the tools to do the job, while the "Man with no plan" gets all the tools he needs to accomplish nothing.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And we wonder why the Pentagon has a great fear of fighting .....they aren't afraid of fighting ....they are afraid that when it gets started all they will have at the end is ROCKS.....