Mama nails it

MaxedOutMama has two excellent posts:
Well, Well, Well

It is going to be a difficult few years, to be sure, for the military, the country and for the Democrats, who are now going to have to do something and take responsibility for the results.

If it weren't for the fact that there's a multiple-front war on, I'd actually be looking forward to the ensuing spectacle, because it is going to be very, very hard for the Dems to switch over to governing mode from opposition mode.

And Now The Danger, And The Decision

Perversely, this election has created an opportunity to really demoralize and depress the opposition in Iraq. As a result of this election, the Iraqi government (which has been extremely ineffective) will be terrified that we will leave, and the Bush adminstration now has great political leverage there. If we redouble our efforts, the opposition will be utterly daunted. For years they have been telling their base is that we will never hold. They've been telling them that they don't have to win, all they have to do is not give up. They've been promising them that we don't have the stomach for this, and that we will lose the political will to keep it up. They've been telling them that the US will lose the will and that this loss of will be signaled by a change of political control.

If the outgoing Republican leadership and the incoming Democratic leadership would meet, and then meet with Bush, and then issue a combined statement, it would severely shake up Al-Qaeda. If this were followed by decisive military action, it would destroy their entire narrative. This is reality. What was impossible a week ago for the Bush administration in Iraq is now possible - if we can show some nerve - if the Republicans and Democrats can stop playing political games. Those are big ifs.

Read them both.

Via Pajamas "You can't fight a war by pretending you're not in a war."