Happily, TimesSelect is still in effect for a little longer, but today’s Paul Krugman column has a gem:

The administration, this time relying on Gen. David Petraeus to play the Colin Powell role, has had remarkable success creating the perception that the “surge” is succeeding, even though there’s not a shred of verifiable evidence to suggest that it is.

Got that? “Not a shred.” Now, let’s take the Wayback Machine to September 11, 2006:

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country’s western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents…
Devlin reports that there are no functioning Iraqi government institutions in Anbar, leaving a vacuum that has been filled by the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has become the province’s most significant political force, said the Army officer, who has read the report. Another person familiar with the report said it describes Anbar as beyond repair; a third said it concludes that the United States has lost in Anbar.

And in today’s news…

The president secretly flew 12 hours to this dusty air base in a remote part of Anbar province, bypassing Baghdad in a symbolic expression of impatience with political paralysis in the nation’s capital. The gesture underscored the U.S. belief that the spark for progress may come at the local level.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the trip was conceived about six weeks ago when top White House advisers began discussing Bush’s role as Congress returns to Washington and debate over the war heats up. It was decided that progress in Anbar made it the perfect place to showcase the administration’s strategy.
There has been a drop in violence in Anbar, where Sunni tribal leaders and former insurgents have teamed up with U.S. troops to hunt down al-Qaida and other extremists.
Anticipating criticism that Bush’s trip was a media event to buttress support for his war strategy, the White House was ready to push back.
“There are some people who might try to deride this trip as a photo opportunity,” White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. “We wholeheartedly disagree.”
Hadley said Bush wanted to hear personally from commanders and from al-Maliki himself.
“There is no substitute for sitting down, looking him in the eye, and having a conversation with him,” Hadley said. “The president felt this is something he had to do in order to put himself in a position to make some important decisions.”

And no sooner than the Bush administration argues that this is not a photo op…

“The situation in Iraq is too serious for any more ‘Mission Accomplished’ photo ops. It’s good that the violence is down in Anbar Province, but it’s a homogeneous area that lacks the ethnic conflict that’s plaguing the rest of the country. Iraq needs a comprehensive political solution and our brave troops deserve better than more of the president’s rhetoric that clings to a failed strategy.

Thank you, John Edwards. You like how he says “the violence is down” but attributes it to ethnic unity, as if there wasn’t the exact same ethnic unity in 2006 when the province was being torn apart by al-Qaeda? To Edwards, good news in Iraq is like the weather, it just happens*, it’s never the result of a U.S. effort or policy. The failures, of course, are all attributed to U.S. policy, and they themselves never just happen.

*I would note that bad weather is, in fact, attributed to the Bush administration by its critics, because in their world, not signing the Kyoto treaty that was unanimously rejected by the Senate somehow creates hurricanes.