''Make no mistake, Democrats are committed to ending this war,''

sez Nancy. And that's the crux of the problem, isn't it? The Democrats have abandoned the idea of ever winning in Iraq. Reid's feeble protestations over the past week are belied by the continuing rhetoric of his own party. Winning militarily is not part of the Democrat's agenda. At all.

As recently as last December Democrats were claiming that our biggest problems in Iraq were: poor leadership, not enough troops, inadequate equipment, and lack of commitment by the Iraqi government. They never used their legislative clout to do anything about any of those issues, but at least they had identified debatable problems. It's telling that when Bush met their demands - changing leadership, adding troops, funding equipment, and getting real buy-in by Maliki - it made no difference at all in the political sniping from the Dems.

So when exactly did the Democrats decide that the situation in Iraq was futile? Was it the tiny casualties the US military has suffered? The "Civil War" which apparently can be turned on and off by an edict from Moqtada al-Sadr?

One of the latest Dem memes is that a military solution cannot, by itself, bring peace to Iraq. We need political and economic solutions as well. This is true, and it's why the US has spent a lot of time and money forming a government in Iraq, reconstructing the infrastructure, and getting the economy moving. But it's difficult to see how political and economic solutions can work without a strong and active military presence - that approach would take us back to the early days of the CPA.

But where are the Democrats' plans for political and economic solutions? My impression is that they'll just put Iraq on the foreign aid list, sending some money every year so they can assuage their consciences.

Consciences that seem as shallow as their commitment to the people of Iraq and the security of the US.