He Said It

Related to this, former Senator Bob Kerry (D), writes:

No serious leader in Kabul is asking us to leave. Instead we are being asked to withdraw by American leaders who begin their analysis with the presumption that victory is not possible. They seem to want to ensure defeat by leaving at the very moment when our military leader on the ground has laid out a coherent and compelling strategy for victory.

They seem to want that fairly often, no? Which raises the obvious question of whether there is substance behind the semblance. In my opinion, the answer to that is equally obvious, though it is not always conscious.