Mr Bu$h’s famous surge escalation, as devised by the noted military expert Fred Kagan, is in stasis at the moment. The last of the five brigades mandated for success final victory has just arrived in country.

Despite a great deal of doubt on the part of the Democratic Congress and 70% of Americans, and 60% of Iraqis, who hate freedom and yearn for the Islamomunistfascists to win, the plan is going to get a fair test. Despite April being one of the bloodiest months in the history of our occupation, the occupation will continue.

GEN Petraeus has said that he will know by September whether or not the surge escalation is working, and he will report back to Congress at that time. Minority Leader Boehner is on record as saying we have to allow 60 to 90 days give the plan a chance, and then it may be time to fold up our tents and start withdrawing.

Late yesterday House GOP leader John Boehner was interviewed by CNN, and he appeared to set a deadline for President Bush to show that his "surge" strategy will succeed. He was asked the following question: "How long can you and your membership give the President and give the Iraqi military before you say, `You know what? You're not doing your job.'?" Boehner's answer: "I think it'll be rather clear in the next sixty to ninety days as to whether this plan's going to work." So if the "surge" isn't successful by Boehner's deadline, what will he advocate then? Let's all see if we can remember that Boehner said this, shall we? View the video…

This would appear to be tacit acceptance of Mr Bu$h’s failure in his Iraq qWagmire, but it isn’t. He is the Republican minority leader, and there is zero chance he’s going to speak against Mr Bu$h.

GEN Petraeus is going to report a small bit of progress, and a clear vision of the light at the end of the tunnel. It will just take another three Friedman Units. It wouldn't matter if a horrible catastrophe occurred, like losing an entire platoon, or even two. He will see some progress.

How do I know this?

Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08

The Pentagon announced yesterday that 35,000 soldiers in 10 Army combat brigades will begin deploying to Iraq in August as replacements, making it possible to sustain the increase of U.S. troops there until at least the end of this year.

U.S. commanders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that heightened troop levels, announced by President Bush in January, will need to last into the spring of 2008. The military has said it would assess in September how well its counterinsurgency strategy, intended to pacify Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, is working.

If you breathe oxygen you might wonder why it’s necessary to extend the surge escalation into Spring, 2008, if September, 2007 is the point of no return.

"The surge needs to go through the beginning of next year for sure," said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the day-to-day commander for U.S. military operations in Iraq. The new requirement of up to 15-month tours for active-duty soldiers will allow the troop increase to last until spring, said Odierno, who favors keeping experienced forces in place for now.

"What I am trying to do is to get until April so we can decide whether to keep it going or not," he said in an interview in Baghdad last week. "Are we making progress? If we're not making any progress, we need to change our strategy. If we're making progress, then we need to make a decision on whether we continue to surge."

The surge escalation will continue for another 3.3 Friedman Units, by which time it will be January 21, 2009, at which point the incoming Democratic President will be officially responsible for “losing” Iraq.