Déjà Vu All Over Again

The Petraeus report was, of course, nonsense that will keep us in Iraq indefinitely (while, I might add, legitimating the usage of the absolutely atrocious word "overwatch"). But then again, so was Colin Powell's speech at the U.N. in February 2003, and yet that managed to convince numerous undecideds aross the spectrum. I doubt this will have the universal effect that speech had; just check TPM Election Central to see how united the Dems are on this. But I wonder if it will give the surge the credibility it needs with moderate Republican Senators and win back people like Lamar Alexander and John Warner. It's not as if the war was going to end before January 2009 even if we got all the waverers to vote for a timetable, but this would be distressing nonetheless.