Democratic Party liberals can be pretty wussy in criticizing the Iraq war, and have been cowed by the surge and fear of being portrayed as not “supporting the troops.” They could borrow some backbone from retired three star general William Odom, who headed the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan. Testifying Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Odom punctured the fiction that the surge has accomplished anything lasting or useful. He also blasted the hawks who want to expand the war to Iran, noting that such people are actually seeking to fulfill a key Al Qaeda strategic aim. “One need only take note of the al Qaeda public diplomacy campaign. . .they implore the United States to bomb and invade Iran and destroy the apostate Shiite regime. As an aside, it gives me pause to learn that our vice president and some members of the Senate are aligned with al Qaeda on spreading the war to Iran.”

Pretty good stuff. Over to you, Dick Cheney, Senator Lieberman, Senator McCain: why are you aligned with al Qaeda on spreading the war to Iran? Seems to me the question would make a good campaign ad in the fall, provided Bush hasn’t spread the war there already.