I disagree strongly with this assessment that represents the new conventional wisdom.
General Casey has not played along with his show trial:
Questioned by Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, Gen. Casey repeatedly defended his 21/2-year command, conceding that Baghdad fell into cycles of relentless killing during his term and that "the situation is definitely deteriorating in Baghdad." But he said much of Iraq has made progress.
"I believe the president's new strategy will enhance the policy that we have," he said of Mr. Bush's Jan. 10 plan to send 21,500 additional troops into Iraq, most to Baghdad.
As Gen. Casey testified, a bipartisan group of senators put the finishing touches on a nonbinding resolution opposing Mr. Bush's troop boost. Sponsored by Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, and backed by Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat and Armed Services Committee chairman, the measure would also oppose a cutoff of war funds, an action demanded by some anti-war liberals.
I t was not clear yesterday whether Mr. Warner has the 60 votes needed to clear the resolution for a floor vote.
Gen. Casey broke with comments by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has said the United States is not winning, and with Navy Adm. William Fallon, who told the same committee this week that the strategy was not working. Adm. Fallon is to be the next Middle East commander.
The general did not stop there. Asked about Mr. Bush's assessment that his Iraq policy was headed to "slow failure," Gen. Casey said, "I actually don't see it as a slow failure. I actually see it as slow progress."
Good for the general. The Senators may wanted to hear confessions of guilt but what they got was his honest opinion that we face problems but that we've done much already that has not been undone because of the Baghdad violence that has followed the Samarra bombing last year.
