In a piece entitled "It Didn’t Work" - with "it" being the Iraq invasion - I give you the National Review's William F. Buckley (yes, that William F. Buckley):

Mr. Bush has a very difficult internal problem here because to make the kind of concession that is strategically appropriate requires a mitigation of policies he has several times affirmed in high-flown pronouncements. His challenge is to persuade himself that he can submit to a historical reality without forswearing basic commitments in foreign policy.

He will certainly face the current development as military leaders are expected to do: They are called upon to acknowledge a tactical setback, but to insist on the survival of strategic policies.

Yes, but within their own counsels, different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat.

Here's the catch: invading to "free" Iraqi citizens from Saddam Hussein was only the White House's stated objective. It was never the real objective. Otherwise they would have had more boots on the ground to win the peace. They would have anticipated sectarian violence. They would not have rejected the experts who told them exactly how this would all play out. They would have had a plan.

Mission accomplished.

In other news: President Bush's sky-is-falling brand of xenophobia comes back to bite him on the ass. Right through his magic flight suit. Again, from the National Review, this time conservative John Podhoretz confronting another harsh reality for the GOP:

Rasmussen has a new poll up in which -- hold on now -- Democrats in Congress are outpolling President Bush on national security. By a margin of 43 to 41 percent, Americans say they trust Congressional Democrats more than Bush when it comes to protecting our national security. And by a margin of 64-17 percent, they oppose the sale of the ports to Dubai.

The deal is dead. It won't survive after a 45-day extension or a 450-day extension. Congressional Republicans have no choice but to be extremely aggressive and nasty toward the president and the White House, because they will be properly terrified of looking like Bush's lapdogs on a hugely unpopular matter that goes to the heart of the Republican party's political advantage in the United States.

If the White House doesn't handle this well in the next three days, the political consequences could be catastrophic.

Can I get a little gangsta lean for White House credibility?

Here's to the next three days, y'all.

B.

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