Iraq and the failure to communicate

President George W. Bush needs some fresh material. Almost three years after the invasion he is trying to sell a "Strategy for Victory in Iraq."

If Mission Accomplished was grossly premature, a Strategy for Victory is way overdue. The president spoke at the U.S. Naval Academy, though a target audience was certainly the Iraqi people who go the polls in less than two weeks to elect a government.

Part of his message was a subliminal plea to make democracy work, so the U.S. has a reason for departure: Take your country back, please.

Bush is obviously open to leaving Iraq as quickly as possible. His lips say no, but his plan and prose are groping for an exit. His extended plan for victory is 35 pages of how bad things have been, but how bright he is determined they will be.

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