Frank Rich at the NYT has a good piece today regarding McCain and his delusions that we are succeeding in Iraq, and that the battle in Basra last week was a sign of it. From the piece:

“We-re succeeding,” Mr. McCain said after his last trip to Iraq. “I don-t care what anybody says.” Again, it’s the last sentence that’s accurate. When General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testify before Congress again this week - against the backdrop of a million-Iraqi, anti-American protest called by Mr. Sadr - Mr. McCain will ram home all this “success” no matter the facts.

And the fact that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the battle in Basra:

Perhaps all these mistaken judgments can be attributed to the fog of war. But Mr. McCain’s bigger strategic picture, immutable no matter what happens on the ground, is foggier still. Like Mr. Bush, he keeps selling Iraq as the central front in the war on Al Qaeda. But Al Qaeda was not even a participant in the Basra battle, which was an eruption of a Shiite-vs.-Shiite civil war. (Al Qaeda is busy enough in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the actual central front in the war on terror.)

Good read! Full article here