In a world replete with chatter, the best thing you can say may be nothing ... I reaffirm my support of this notion on quiet mornings while standing at the kitchen sink, staring out the window.

From Jeffrey Shaffer, in the CSMonitor a while back, and most relevant with the current cacaphony of political ads. More,

... If excess words were corn, we could fill millions of giant silos with America's annual production. I'm trying not to add to that surplus. And if you disagree with anything I've said, feel free to offer a rebuttal. Just try to keep it as brief as you possibly can.

conflict in Iraq is drawing fewer foreign fighters as Muslim extremists aspiring to battle the West turn their attention back to the symbolically important and increasingly violent turf of Afghanistan...

... suggests that Al Qaeda and its allies, armed with new tactics honed in Iraq, are coming full circle five years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban mullahs.

As reported in the LATimes,

Foreign fighters are predominantly Sunni. They increasingly prefer fighting alongside the Taliban to getting embroiled in the Sunni-versus-Shiite bloodshed in Iraq,

The policy debate underway in the US does not address this complexity.

Where does the US military leadership find the  experienced, fresh troops to be ready for the Administration who likely will  want to increase forces in Afghanistan? Don Rumsfeld wanted his legacy to be the Transformation of the military to a lighter and more effective force.  He will now have to prove he has done what he said.