The Plank

While Bill Kristol writes that John McCain got the “commander in chief” decision of supporting the military surge in Iraq right, and that Barack Obama got it wrong, the conservative columnist forgets that Obama was clearly on the right side and McCain on the wrong one of another “commander in chief” moment, the decision to go to invade Iraq, writes Jonathan Cohn. There’s some unequivocal good news for Iraq in its plucky soccer team, which was on the verge of missing out on the Olympics, the World Cup and a chance to defend its Asian Cup title after the government decided to disband the country’s Olympic committee, writes Josh Patashnik. The government finally assured soccer’s governing body, FIFA, that it wouldn’t meddle in the soccer team’s affairs, allowing the team to compete in major tournaments, the blogger notes.