I asked a friend who is supporting one of the Republican candidates for President, What’s he going to do when the surge fails?

He said, Well, that’s simple. Here’s what’s going to happen. If the surge works Washington will bring the troops home. And if it fails Washington will bring the troops home.

Now, I’ve got qualms about losing the war in Iraq but if we’re not going to send enough men to win we might as well get out, so, I thought, Fine. Then we’ll see what Al-Qaeda does next.

Then a few mornings later I opened The News and Observer and read that a pundit at a prominent think tank in Washington is floating a hot new proposal. He wants to pull out of Iraq but leave 60-80,000 men behind. Perhaps until 2012.

Now, whoever in the long history of wars heard of a nation admitting defeat, pulling out its army, but leaving a handful of soldiers behind to go on fighting?

This pundit is trying to thread a needle between domestic politics and military strategy. But those two mules just won’t gee and haw. He wants to pull 100,000 soldiers out of Iraq to give the politicians ample air-cover to save themselves next election. Then he’s going to tell the 60,000 men left behind to go on fighting.

There is a tradition in American history that – I think – goes back to Lincoln. In 1864 Lincoln told Grant, ‘Don’t worry about the politics. That’s my problem. You win the war.’

Times have changed. Domestic politics is dictating how we fight the war in Iraq. Given a choice between making the unpopular political decisions to win and half-measures, we have taken half-measures. And given the choice between defeat and half-measures we take half-measures. Like leaving 60,000 men behind to go on fighting a war we couldn’t win with 160,000.

Click Here to discuss and comment on this and other articles.