Before Bush did his "shock and awe" extravaganza attack on Iraq, he'd been ordering bombing flights over Iraq for at least six months-- that means before congress authorized him to go to war.

Now, we learn that the "surge" has already begun. All the talk by the Dems in congress is pretty much meaningless. Bush speculated they would waffle, be weak and do nothing. So far, Bush is right. Weak talk is going nowhere, except making it clear that the Dem leadership is failing to heed the message they received LOUD AND CLEAR.

Bush is running way ahead of congress and he is not finished. Iran is still on the table and in the sights of Bush's neocon war fantasies. You can be sure that he absolutely will, unless forced to stop, set off a war with Iran. It may be done by proxy, through Israel. It may start with an incursion into Lebanon, in response to the amped up violence of Hezbollah. It doesn't matter.

Bush will use any pretext-- the facts don't really matter to him- just as they didn't when it came to dragging us into Iraq. The congress must stop him.

Perhaps the strategy should be to force legislators to take a stand on attacking Iran. It would be nice if pollsters asked the question on support for a war with Iran. But I wonder how many members of congress would actually be crazy or stupid enough to support a new war we can't afford and certainly can't win. At least, forcing these fools to show their true colors will make it easier to get rid of them in the 2008 elections.

It may already be too late to stop the escalation of the war in Iraq. It may still be possible to stop an Iran conflict. I'm not saying to stop trying to stop the escalation. (Let Bush use his "surge" reframe. It's an escalation.) But the congress must aggressively pass binding legislation with teeth that orders the military to stand down on any current Iran conflict and which orders the military to hold back on any military action with Iran unless it is approved by congress. The legislation should take away the jobs and pensions of any generals who fail to obey the legislation. But they better do it fast, or we'll have our troops dying in Teheran.