Politics above reality

Greyhawk says it best:

As just one of the 21,500 I might be less offended by it if congress would also pass a measure indicating they had some inkling of an idea what the surge really is - thus far I've seen no evidence of that from either side of the aisle. If congress could "stop the surge" we'd still go to Iraq, just a few weeks later and in time to wave farewell to the troops we would have reinforced, facing an enemy emboldened and allies dismayed.

But now we have a measure that will indeed be heard, as Joe Lieberman said in the Senate:

What we say here is being heard in Baghdad by Iraqi moderates, trying to decide whether the Americans will stand with them. We are being heard by our men and women in uniform, who will be interested to know whether we support the plan they have begun to carry out. We are being heard by the leaders of the thuggish regimes in Iran and Syria, and by Al Qaeda terrorists, eager for evidence that America’s will is breaking. And we are being heard across America by our constituents, who are wondering if their Congress is capable of serious action, not just hollow posturing.

The damage is incalculable, and now officially done.