Roll CrimsonTide

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time
--Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding


When the tide of misfortune moves over you,
even jelly will break your teeth
--Persian proverb


Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned
--The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats

_________

That General Petraeus and U.S. Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker would like to see the surge strategy continue is little surprise ("US general, diplomat: Give Bush's Iraq strategy time.") "Petraeus. . .signaled he would like to see a substantial US combat force remain well into 2008 and perhaps beyond."

Just as a Coca Cola retailer would like to see his product prevail in a new market, Gen. Petraeus's business is soldiering.

Meanwhile, the day before the announcement, a devastating coordinated attack on a formerly safe zone:

"a simultaneous truck bombing and rocket attack ruined a Shi'ite market district in one of Baghdad's safest central neighborhoods, killing at least 28 people and wounding 95.

"Although suicide bombings are common in Iraq, it is rare for militants to stage a double attack with such effectiveness. The attackers struck about 6:40 p.m. as the Karradah district's market area was packed with shoppers on the eve of the Islamic day of rest.

"An explosives-laden garbage truck exploded near the market at about the same time as a Katyusha rocket slammed into a three-story residential building about 100 yards away. Police said the explosions destroyed 17 stores and 14 cars.

"An Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, blamed Sunni extremists for the rocket attack. He did not mention the car bombing reported by police.

"Overall, at least 78 people were killed or found dead across Iraq yesterday."

"The surge enables us to turn the tide just a bit in key places," [Petraeus] said.

This is American Generalship at its best. Turning the tide, a bit. This are words usually heard over afternoon tea--"a wee bit of sugar, please." But not a phrase typically heard in military speak .

Did Eisenhower invade the continent of Europe, "just a bit"?