So Much For Partnerships

Well, we are all definitely coming down to earth from the high of giving the Queen an i-Pod.

Yesterday Bug Guy sat down with his fellow leaders of the world with the full intention of polishing off some deals to get more troops from European nations into Afghanistan. It's true that a number of nations have boots on the ground there, but not the kind of numbers the U.S. has, and certainly not doing what our men and women in uniform are doing over there.

Over the past month, Secretary of State Dick Holbrooke and his assistant, Hillary, have been working through NATO and individual countries on getting commitments for Afghan deployment that Big Guy could get credit for today in the U.S. press. And boy, did Dick and Hill come through. The Brits are sending a few troops; Belgium offered 35 military trainers and Spain offered 12.

That's it. The U.S. is sending thousands. Big Guy wanted to know what Holbrooke and Hillary had been doing with their time that would lead to this kind of embarrassing set of offers. They couldn't answer, but Hillary said she has cut a pretty sweet deal with Syria, which is going to send in thousands of troops to Afghanistan. It's just not clear who's side they will be on.