Froomkin asks questions about Bush's plan to escalate the war

Dan Froomkin is back. And, he's asking questions. Questions that need answers. Dan is on to something here when he asks "Where's the outrage?" It's almost surreal to watch Bush plan an escalation of the war -- I wonder if most Americans still can't grasp the idea that he will really do it. Americans want this war to end. It just doesn't make sense that Bush is going to get us more involved. But that is where Bush is headed and that can't happen:

The American voters in November made it clear that it's time to start withdrawing from Iraq. Political leaders from both parties and any number of experts are increasingly coming to the realization that American soldiers are dying, day in and day out, in pursuit of an unattainable goal.

So what is President Bush about to do? By all indications: escalate. His "new way forward" in Iraq appears to call for more troops -- along with a series of other measures that might have helped if he'd taken them three years ago.

News reports suggest that Bush's plan is not likely to win enthusiastic support, even from within his own party. But my question is: Where's the outrage?

If the vox populi and the cognoscenti agree that throwing more American bodies at the problem will only result in more American deaths, then how is the apparent Bush plan anything short of a betrayal of the troops and an expression of contempt for the will of the people?

And is there any more plausible explanation for Bush's behavior than that he is willing to sacrifice more troops so he won't have to admit -- at least not yet -- that he made a mistake? Is that a good enough reason to ask even one more soldier to die?

Bush made a mistake. A huge mistake. His mistake has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. There is not a good enough reason to ask anyone else to die. Who, besides Bush, thinks there is?

A couple weeks ago, Condi Rice said we've been making an investment in Iraq. We've invested enough. More than enough. Bush has to be stopped from compounding his errors.