I want my quagmire, dammit!

In a brilliantly conceived preemptive strike, President Bush has backed Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and rejected the Iraq Study Group's recommendations for phased drawdown before it makes them. No weenie orderly withdrawal or "graceful exit" for this tough-talking Texan. No sir, he's willing to stay until the last somebody else's son or daughter spills their blood.

"[He] remains the only man of stature so far in evidence to guide this country. . . . He has made it clear that he would give first priority to the build-up of his armed forces . . . At the same time, discontent is felt in different segments of the population for varied reasons. The base of the regime's popular support remains narrow. . . . We consider it therefore of importance that we bring strong pressure on the President to reach certain decisions basically in the economic and social fields which have been before him for some months but on which he has not acted. He has resented this and may resent it more, but in ours and his long range interests we must do our utmost to cause him to move forward in these fields."
- U.S. Ambassador Elbridge Durbrow on South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem, January 1, 1957

"We will not be defeated.
We will not grow tired.
We will not withdraw, either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement."

- Lyndon B. Johnson, 7 April 1965