Here's my theory on what happened the first of this year.  The military generals were asked by President Bush, VP Cheney and Karl Rove what they felt they needed to resolve the Iraq quagmire.  

The Generals said, "sir, we need to curb the violence long enough to allow the Iraqi government a chance to reconcile their differences.  Without a government in charge and with power, this war will go on forever.  There needs to be a political solution, not a military one."

The President then asked the generals, "how many more soldiers do you need to do that?"  "It will take at least 30,000", they said.  "How long would it take to get the surge of troops to Iraq?"  "About 6 months sir; if we start deploying in April, we should be in full swing by September of 2007."

   Secretary of Defense Gates wants the Iraqi Parliament to not take a two-month recess this summer if it doesn't pass reconciliatory legislation before July.  That Gates has to be discussing priorities with the Iraqi government suggests we want stability in their country more than, perhaps, it's government does...or that Bush doesn't like the idea of defending the Iraqi politicians vacationing in the south of France while our troops are fighting and dying in Baghdad.

   I wish Gates luck, but I hope that he suggests a third option: that we all take a vacation this summer and maybe, just maybe, our troops would not return in September!  That would end the funding-the-troops battle in Washington, insure that the Iraqis get their R & R...and make a lot of stateside families very, very happy.