I thought a surge was a surge, a quick in-and-out so to speak. But then there's the sustained tantric surge, something a past-sixty-year old male president like George W. Bush might only dream of.
The Pentagon is laying the groundwork to extend the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq. At the same time, the administration is warning Iraqi leaders that the boost in forces could be reversed if political reconciliation is not evident by summer.
This approach underscores the central difficulty facing President Bush. If political progress is not possible in the relatively short term, then the justification for sending thousands more U.S. troops to Baghdad - and accepting the rising U.S. combat death toll that has resulted - will disappear. That in turn would put even more pressure on Bush to yield to the Democratic-led push to wind down the war in coming months.
If the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki does manage to achieve the political milestones demanded by Washington, then the U.S. military probably will be told to sustain the troop buildup much longer than originally foreseen - possibly well into 2008. Thus the early planning for keeping it up beyond late summer.
That's what a tantric surge largely depends on: the partner. In this case the partner is the uncertain and beleaguered Nouri al-Maliki who is (worse) promiscuous and promised to others at the same time. It's going to be a tough exercise for President Bush, but then all that physical work at Crawford seems to have made him fit. Perhaps he'll be able to sustain the surge.
We're not prurient by nature, but we plan to be watching closely.
