On Iraq, A Shift in Message — Or a Lack Thereof

Somebody, please, convince President Bush to actually say something different on Iraq today.

The White House is “in panic mode,” according to ABC News, and according to The Washington Post and The New York Times the findings of a report set for release this weekend conclude that the Iraqi government has met none of the benchmarks Bush set for them in January, which were the basis for our surge in troops, and that the Iraqis are unlikely to do so in the future. This comes on the heels of Stephen Hadley, national security adviser, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates having to cancel trips last week to attend meltdown meetings at the White House following “surprise” defections by senior GOP senators on current war policy.

Still, after these jolting developments, the Bush administration cannot, will not, say anything to indicate that the strategy in Iraq will change. The Republicans who can no longer unite behind Bush don’t support withdrawal, but after watching the surge fail without any sign of progress they have decided to support redeployment. Sure, Bush is finally listening, but he isn’t budging. The Post reported today that Bush decided “against heeding their proposal to begin redeploying U.S. troops as early as this summer, but he and his team concluded they needed to shift his message.” Then this morning Tony Snow, White House spokesman, scraped nails against a blackboard when he said on NBC that “We’re now about two weeks into having the surge operational. What we want to see now is whether the surge is working. We’re at the starting point now.” Some shift in message, Tony.

Senior Republicans, including foreign policy veteran Sen. John Warner of Virginia, want a change in policy, not just in rhetoric. Warner said yesterday this is “a time in our history unlike anything I have ever witnessed before.” He recalled that when Congress voted for reports on progress in Iraq that demanded Bush alter his strategy in the absence of progress, Warner told the White House it had better take them seriously.

Bush is expected to say something about this today in Cleveland, something about his vision for a “post-surge” strategy. What he does about it comes later, but let’s just hope he can start with the words.

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