Maybe it depends on which General is speaking

The Senate last week dismissed the testimony of the new Commander in Iraq, General Petraeus, on the point of reaction to their promised anti-surge resolutions. In his testimony that day during his confirmation hearing, he gave a direct answer to a direct question about the effects of any such resolution on the enemy in Iraq: It helps them, the General offered.

Fast-forward another week and we find General Casey sitting in front of the same committee yesterday getting grilled as part of the confirmation process for his new post as Army Chief of Staff. During the hearing Casey made interesting comments on that same point:

During his Senate testimony today, General Casey said, "It certainly strengthens the enemy. . . I've already seen it start to come out — the Americans are being beaten, they're being defeated. Come to Iraq now if you want to be involved in beating the Americans. . . I've seen it in the Al Qaeda propaganda."

Now if we hit the rewind button we can explain why--logically speaking--the Senate ought to care about Casey's assessment on this after having ignored Petraeus' similar statements. Back in December as the President worked to form this new strategy, Generals Casey and Abizaid both testified to the effect that the surge was a bad idea (something obviously not lost on headline-writing copy editors across America).

Maybe Petraeus was too straight-forward about it, maybe the Senate can appreciate Casey's statement somewhat more. But then again, probably not since he's now in favor of the whole idea:

But now, Casey said he supports the president's decision to deploy 21,500 additional troops, or five brigades, because it would give the incoming commander of coalition troops, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the flexibility he would need to help quiet the situation."In my mind, the other three brigades should be called forward after an assessment has been made on the ground," Casey said.

Everybody's changing their minds it seems, but the Senate. It appears we're getting a resolution whether we want it or not. The only question is, which one?

Those Senators sure can accomplish a lot when they put their minds to it!