Lindsey Graham's Tour of Duty

Battle-hardened combat veteran Lindsey Graham grits his teeth and says, "Keep up the surge!"

Graham is just back from a two-week Air Force Reserve "tour of duty" in the 'Raq.

Graham's comments come at a time when some of his colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee, including Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), are calling for troop withdrawals. Graham, a colonel in the Air Force Reserve and a longtime supporter of military deployment in Iraq, is the only member of the Senate to serve in Iraq.

"With all due respect to Senator Warner, the model he is suggesting -- to put pressure [on the Iraqi government] by mandating troop withdrawal -- is exactly the opposite of what we should do," Graham said in an interview after returning from Iraq this past weekend. "I believe the pressure that will lead to reconciliation will not be from what an American politician thinks but what the Iraqi people think. And I'm confident that the Iraqi people have turned a corner."

Aside from the Post's ludicrous description of Graham's two-week visit as a "tour of duty," it is worth noting that there is nothing new or newsworthy about Graham's support of the escalation. He was an uncritical supporter of Bush's strategy before going to Iraq on Reserve duty, and remains so now. He is adding absolutely nothing to the conversation.