William Buckley Votes No on the Surge

The Corner Kids at the National Review don’t know what do with this:

On the basis of this analysis I will vote against supplementary American involvement in Iraq.

They are in shock because it was written by William F. Buckley. Key to his analysis is the following:

If success in Iraq would bring an end to the movement of which Iraq is now the apex, the answer would clearly be yes. Has the president persuasively argued that it would do so? No. He has said that “failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States.” He hasn’t said why. Great countries do lose great engagements. We did in Vietnam and Korea, and the Soviets did in Afghanistan.

In 1970, conservative Paul Harvey shocked fellow conservatives by telling President Nixon he was wrong on Vietnam. This ranks up there with that 1970 speech.