Reality and Iraq

PRESIDENT BUSH MADE SOME remarkable statements about Iraq at a news conference Thursday evening with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his comrade-in-arms in the toppling of Saddam Hussein and fellow victim of public disenchantment with the war. Abandoning his usual bravado, Bush acknowledged Americans' impatience with a conflict that has dragged on for three years and cost more than 2,400 U.S. lives, conceding that "when you see innocent people die day in and day out, it affects the mentality of our country." He admitted that mistakes were made after the invasion and that the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib had blackened the image of the U.S. He even apologized for his own reckless rhetoric, like the famous taunt of "bring 'em on."

What the president did not do was connect the dots between the disaffection he described and the need to hasten the disengagement of U.S. forces from Iraq. We hope his actions in the next several months reckon with that reality even if his words didn't.

We aren't talking about a firm deadline for withdrawal, which we continue to believe would be a tactical mistake that might embolden Iraqi insurgents -- or Shiite elements within the government who'd like to settle scores with the Sunni minority that was privileged under Hussein. But Bush needn't set a date for an American exit to make it clear that he wants it to occur sooner rather than later.

Instead, he used Thursday's news conference to dispute "speculation in the press" that the Pentagon plans to reduce U.S. forces in Iraq from 131,000 to 100,000. Troop levels, he said (and we've heard this before), would depend on recommendations of commanders in the field. He defined the mission of those troops as helping to create "a country that can sustain itself, defend itself and govern itself."

The president did say that "we're making progress on all fronts," and he called the formation of a diverse government in Baghdad "a new beginning for Iraq and a new beginning for the relationship between Iraq and our coalition."

Never mind that the government took too long to come together and that feuding factions still haven't settled on a defense or an interior minister. Bush seemed more interested in urging Americans to be patient than in exhorting Iraqi politicians to get their act together. "With our help," he said, "Iraq will be a powerful force for good in a troubled region and a steadfast ally in the war on terror."