First it was WMD, then it was "democracy" for Iraqis, soon it's going to be "stability". And as the civil war unfolds, it will be talk of, maybe a strong man, sort of like at Fallujah.

Wonder if US troops will withdraw to the oil fields, protect "reconstruction" there?

"All but the most blindly devoted Bush supporters can see that Bush administration officials have no clue about what to do in Iraq tomorrow, much less a month from now. Consider Fallujah: One week they're setting deadlines and threatening offensives; the next week they're pulling back. Then they briefly name one of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard generals to lead the pacification of the city — the kind of bizarre idea that only desperate people can conjure. The Bush administration is evidently in a panic, and this panic is being conveyed to the American people."

Kagan is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.