Tomorrow evening President George Bush will unveil his strategy for the next Iraq War, a plan that will entail more troops doing different things to achieve new ends plus a schedule of goals to be met by the Iraqi government according to a specific timetable.
The New York Times quotes an administration official as claiming they intend to hold the Iraqi government to the timetable. This sort of thing has been tried before - without result. You might recall the deadlines that were missed when the Iraqis were trying to hammer out their country's constitution.
Depending on the details revealed by Bush tomorrow, this will be either his fourth or fifth stab at war in Iraq. His has been a positively breathtaking record of successive failures. At this point Bush should come clean, stand up and tell the anti-war crowd, the majority of Americans, that, if the latest plan doesn't work he will relent to public opinion.
Bush should also make clear what he intends to do with the Iraqi government if they fail to meet their benchmarks within the time specified. We've seen how miserably they handle deadlines. Remember the business about "we'll stand down when they (the Iraqis) stand up"? How many American forces have stood down since then?
Without consequences for failure for Bush or the Iraqi government, this foolishness will just continue.
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