Speaking of Iraq

You've undoubtedly heard about how

[a]n elite team of officers advising the US commander, General David Petraeus, in Baghdad has concluded that they have six months to win the war in Iraq - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat.

The Guardian (UK) reported that a week ago and it's been running around the blogs, so I don't expect I have to repeat the story.

But I was just having a little fun with it, since the source was "a former senior administration official familiar with [the teams's] deliberations." Just who might that be, I wondered?

Well, let's see what evidence the article provides.

"The scene is very tense," the former official said. "They are working round the clock. Endless cups of tea with the Iraqis. But they're still trying to figure out what's the plan. The president is expecting progress. But they're thinking, what does he mean? The plan is changing every minute, as all plans do." ...

"It's amazing how well morale has held up so far," the former official said. "But the guys know what's being said back home. There is no question morale is gradually being sapped by political debates."

The article goes on to say that the team's biggest fear is that "political will in Washington may collapse just as the military is on the point of making a counter-insurgency breakthrough."

So let's see. Who could be a "former senior administration official" who could have been around the administration recently enough to be familiar with this deal, frets that troops' "morale is being sapped" by opposition to the war, and uses phrases like "endless cups of tea with Iraqis?"

My bets are on former Defense Secretary Donald Rumpelstiltskin.