I deservedly give President Obama a pretty hard time on this site, but it's worth remembering that the pressure to escalate the war from his right flank is strong. Yesterday, however, those forces were temporarily rebuffed when John McCain's amendment forcing General McChrystal and other military commanders to testify before November 15th was defeated 40-59, along strict party lines.
Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) had already passed an amendment, 60-39, requiring McChrystal to testify after Obama has determined his war strategy. In contrast, the McCain amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill was quite nakedly an attempt to put the military high brass on public record asking for more troops before Obama was ready to make that commitment.
This partisan squabble will probably pass when Obama gives McChrystal the troops he is asking for anyway, but the incident should be taken as a reminder that anyone who wants to end this war needs to act as vigilantly as those who seek to prolong and escalate it.
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