They say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing and expecting different results. But, as Andrew also says, I suspect his point of view on this is fairly widely held in this town by the saner Republicans as well as your hawkish Democrats. It's also a little crazy.
I mean, consider what we're contemplating here. Twelve months from now the war will have lasted about as long as American participation in the second world war. Twelve months after that there will still be six months left in the Bush administration's lifespan. In January 2009 when a new administration takes office, the war will have been going on for five and a half years, virtually the entire span of time between Hitler's invasion of Poland and the Nazis' surrender. With the difference being that Andrew doesn't believe we'll actually make any serious amount of progress between now and then.
This gets us toward what is, I think, a fairly fundamental point of political morality -- it's wrong, seriously wrong and seriously irresponsible, to support military action that has no likely prospects of success. It's one thing to ask young men and women to kill and die for a good cause. It's another thing entirely to ask them to kill and die as a token of your support for a good cause.
One wonders how many more people will die so that people like Andrew Sullivan can feel better about themselves and what they helped to cause.