I have defended Bush throughout, but to say he played this right is inconsistent with the facts. Mistakes were made as Bush took advice from generals that were simply wrong. The surge under Petreas (sp?) is what got the locals committed to routing out Al Quaeda. Don't think for a minute that if Bush could have put a ribbon on Iraq 3 years ago, he would have strung it out til now.
It was a poor choice of words on my part and I didn’t mean to imply he strung it out on purpose. He was persistent in his goal to succeed and more less ignored the RATS criticisms and criticisms from his own party. Petraeus has been the deciding factor.