ARTICLE: Help Wanted: Peacemaker, By Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, July 18, 2007, Pg. 19

Understand the frustration here and agree. I was willing to support the surge from the start, as I often noted, but only if--as Friedman now puts it--there would have been an accompanying diplomatic surge. Otherwise, it just struck me that everyone would simply wait us out, which they are doing.

You look at that dynamic, then, cynically, and you listen to the build-up from various sources about how war with Iran is "inevitable," and you begin to think the whole surge thing was a complete set-up.

And that gets me very mad indeed, much like Friedman.