Clue Number 1: Northern Ireland.

Call it what you will, surge, escalation, McCain Doctrine, it's a last mad vainglorious attempt to redeem a failed policy.

And where is the rationale for going from an Iraq strategy to a Baghdad strategy?  Lowered expectations?  Smart military commanders had been talking about longer deployments as part of an effective political solution throughout Iraq, not as a military solution for Baghdad alone.  Maybe they want to leave with a big crescendo like the end of a fireworks display and have it all on cameras panning and zooming from hotel rooms in the Green Zone.