Peace.Now.

The use of diplomacy is to end or prevent war. To date, the worst administration in our history shows neither comprehension of that simple fact or any ability to perform its mission.

Today's Dallas Morning News shows much greater ability and intelligence about foreign affairs than the occupied White House ever has.

Judging from last week's testimony, Americans will have to settle for an enormously costly, open-ended war without a clear strategy and completely subject to the political whims of Iraq's leaders.

In the next six months, our troops might be fighting Shiites, but they might have to fight Sunnis or Kurds or even Iranians. The mission has drifted so far from its original goals, we can't recognize it anymore.

This lack of definition is appalling, which is why the course we outlined last summer, Plan B, deserves Washington's attention. It requires Iraqis to assume responsibility for quelling their own violence, while American troops transition to a strictly advisory and support role.

By pulling U.S. bases away from urban centers and closer toward the borders, our troops would restore the priority of halting foreign interference and hunting down al-Qaeda.

This plan requires half the troops currently deployed in Iraq and ends the overexposure that is behind most U.S. casualties. The long-term goal remains to support Iraq's stability and independence, but not to intervene every time militia leaders get upset.

It's not a crowd-pleasing plan to bring the troops home now. It won't please the stay-the-course crowd. But it is a workable, definitive, long-term plan that would halt Mr. Bush's amorphous approach to war.

The continuing ignorance of a cabal that refuses to learn from its mistakes, or in most cases even to admit to them, makes this executive branch unique. The American public is disserved by their actions, and so far has been used for nothing so much as another political tool.

Staying the course has been another bumper sticker slogan, masquerading as a policy.