Let me see if I understand this

Every time an unmistakable message is sent the US president that the current Iraq policy lies somewhere between untenable and horrifying, the president responds by intensifying precisely that which all reject.

Following the mid term collapse of the president's party, the president announced (after having already begun) the "troop surge."

Now, with the collapse of Republican support for the invasion, the president has ordered up a belligerent naval presence there not seen since the dawn of the Iraq invasion.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk US boosts Gulf naval presence The US today increased its naval presence in the Gulf by sending a third aircraft carrier to the area because of what it said was "coercive" behaviour by some countries. The Fifth fleet battle group will join what is already the US Navy's biggest show of force in the Gulf since the Iraq war began in 2003.