The senior Senator of Virginia, John Warner, dropped a
proverbial turd in the Bush Administration’s punch bowl with his
announcement today that we are on the wrong course in Iraq. 
Warner, who is fresh off a plane from Iraq, has tried valiantly to
stand with Bush.  No more.

According to Bloomberg news:

The
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the U.S. should
consider a “change of course” in Iraq if the government there can’t
stabilize the country in the next two to three months.

Senator John Warner’s comments, after returning from a one- day
visit to Iraq, were the most critical assessments yet from a top
congressional Republican about the government of Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki, who President George W. Bush has championed as a strong
leader. They also may serve notice to the president that even his
strongest allies in Congress may be running out of patience.

Warner, a former Navy secretary and longtime Republican leader on
defense issues, didn’t outline what changes to U.S. strategy should be
made and whether that includes withdrawing or redeploying U.S.
troops.  I wouldn’t take any option off the table,” he said
during a news conference today at the Capitol.

Pat
Lang weighs in and the news is not cheery (see below).  Put
simply, Iraq will be partitioned.  At this juncture U.S.
politicians and policymakers need to put on their thinking caps and
come up with a longterm strategy to ensure that our interests in the
Middle East can be salvaged.