Since we’re at the outset of Magical September and Congress is back in session, I thought it would be a good time to read some straight talk from one of California’s finest progressive legislators about the occupation of Iraq:

If you believe the Beltway hype, members of Congress will return today to a fiery debate about whether or not the president’s so-called “surge” has produced military progress in Iraq. Beltway pundits are breathlessly predicting Democrats will be thrown into disarray by claims that the increased troop levels in Iraq may have produced security results.

Don’t believe the hype. First off, the data are suspect. The Pentagon refuses to share the methodology by which it arrived at the metrics used to claim success. Even if the progress is real, it is hardly encouraging when put in perspective. When discussing the alleged gains he has overseen, Gen. David H. Petraeus stated that they put us on a course to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq sometime nine or 10 years from now.

What the debate about military progress really does is serve as a distraction – a smokescreen – put forth by an administration that finds it rhetorically convenient to speak in terms of “victory” and “defeat.”

Read the whole thing.  And ask your representative if they’re on the list of those who will not give one more dime to this tragic effort without a redeployment of troops.