Morality aside, from a purely tactical point of view, Democrats should do nothing to help end the war. But they should continue expressing their opposition to it. Bush got us into this mess, it's up to him to get us out.

Anything the Dems do now to make it hard for him will only be used as the excuse why the war failed, shifting the blame on their ending the war away from Bush starting it. If by the time Bush leaves office there is still no victory in Iraq, or if the situation collapses, then the the next President, Rep or Dem, can pull an immediate withdrawal with no political penalties and full public support.

Both Reps and Dems realize this, or at least the politically savvy ones, so I don't foresee an end to the war until late 2008 or early 2009. The Reps want a viable American puppet regime in Iraq, the Dems want to stop the disastrous consequences of a pointless conflict. Both of these are laudable goals, but politics will ensure neither happens. The sad point is that Mr Bush, whose incompetence and ineptness got us into this debacle, is probably the only one still operating from a position of pure conviction, as opposed to political cynicism. And both his Democratic enemies and Republican friends will see to it he gets the entire blame.

The question is, can we maintain at least the status quo in the middle east for two more years? The Republicans are willing to take that gamble. Let's see if the Democrats will.