Escalated

It appears that the, for now, final troop deployment of the escalation is on it's way:

BAGHDAD — The final troop contingent in President Bush's controversial plan to improve security, a brigade that includes 152 attack and transport helicopters, will arrive soon in the Iraqi capital, a U.S. commander said.

With the arrival of the 3rd Infantry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade, based at Ft. Stewart, Ga., the addition of 28,500 troops begun in mid-February will be complete.

The brigade will be based at Camp Victory near the Baghdad international airport, Maj. Gen. James Simmons, deputy commander of multinational forces, said in an interview Friday.

My first thought is, yeah right. I'm guessing there will be many more troops sent in before any come out. More importantly, with this deployment the nutbars can no longer claim that the escalation isn't in place yet. It's there. They're getting killed in larger numbers and the Iraqi government is no closer to a political solution.

Conventional wisdom is a very powerful thing. And the current CW is that the Preznit has until September to "show results" (whatever the hell that means). I'm afraid that I have to agree with what Atrios has said (among many others), never doubt the power and strength of the Friedman Unit Generator.