Max Boot, the unrepentant...

...neoconservative, had a piece in the op-ed page of the Times yesterday, "Judging McChrystal’s War," in which he said:

The general’s ill-advised remarks, which have prompted him to prepare a letter of resignation, will only feed the general sense of despair and impatience that Americans seem to feel about our progress in Afghanistan.

And:

Any suggestion that the war is lost is ludicrously premature...

And:

Increased casualties are obviously not good news, but they aren’t necessarily a sign of impending disaster. They could be the price of victory.

The piece goes on and on in this vein, arguing that if we only do this, or if we only do that, "victory" in Afghanistan will be ours. For those of us old enough to remember, Boot's arguments were eerily reminiscent of the ones made during the Vietnam era.

The last paragraph was particularly chilling (my emphasis):

...[General McChrystal] deserves credit for...putting in place the right strategy to turn around a failing war effort. Whether or not he carries it out, his plan can work. We just need to give it a little time.