know-it-all newt gingrich says pulling out of iraq would create a perception of american weakness like what existed before the 1979 US embassy takeover in iran, only more so. he says "if we are defeated in Iraq, there are not enough Marine elements in the world to evacuate the embassies that’ll come under siege."

that from a man who a few short years ago predicted we could win in iraq with 50k troops.

newt is supremely confident of the infallibility of his intellect, so naturally he has a rational explanation of why he wasn't really wrong about that, but i must admit i didn't understand it well enough to repeat it.

let me just say this: everybody can already see how weak we are. it's obvious we're bogged down in a bushdoggle. the longer we stay, the weaker we get.

but it's also obvious that, even if we're too weak to occupy a country, we're still strong enough to destroy one.