In case I haven’t articulated it already: I think that people who support George W. Bush’s “Surge” in Iraq are, for the most part, idiots.

So for the past year and more we’ve been hearing “The Surge is working! The Surge is working!” I’m reminded of how some passengers on the Titanic actually believed beyond all rational thought that the ship was coming back up to the surface just before it took its final plunge into the Atlantic.

Those who believe in “The Surge” (sounds like a Michael Bay movie) don’t care about the reality of what’s going on in Iraq. If they did, they might be outraged to know that whatever success “The Surge” has boasted doesn’t come from an increased U.S. military presence nearly as much as the fact that the U.S. government has been BRIBING Sunni militants to “switch sides” and not shoot at American forces....