Another Point of View

While the President has begun the removal of the term "Stay The Course" from the official White House Lexicon, it is clear that he has no intention of removing the concept from the prosecution of the Iraq War. We know that, and the rest of the world knows that. The rest of the world also knows what this whole morass has been about and what havoc it has wreaked. From the Malaysia's New Straits Times:

While there is no questioning Bush's dogged determination to finish the job, it is questionable whether any change in tactics would turn things around on the ground, since Iraq is nowhere near being the "free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself" that Bush has envisaged. It is unclear what new tactics could succeed in taming the insurgency and stemming sectarian violence. The dead end that the U.S. finds itself in suggests that regime change is not as easy as deposing a dictator and then imposing democracy at the barrel of a gun. But America's dilemma also proves that military occupation invariably provokes popular resistance. No new military tactic or strategy, however slick and masterful, is capable of reversing inevitable internal opposition to the foreign yoke. It's time to move beyond tinkering with tactics and acknowledge the shortfalls of America's Iraq policy and the inadequacies of the war on terror.

When the body count mounts in an expensive foreign war launched under false pretenses and when the promise of victory proves illusory, it is to be expected that American public opinion would turn hostile. It remains to be seen, however, whether the American public will send a sufficiently strong message to their elected representatives, so that they understand it is no longer the time to talk tough, but rather to bring the boys home.

Yes, I think that gets it nicely.