Bush tries to make the hard sell

It's not surprising that President Bush is having a hard time selling his new Iraq policy to the U.S. public. It's clear now to everyone other than the "My-president-right-or-wrong" crowd that Bush committed a serious error in pulling the trigger on the Iraq war in March 2003. Some think he should not have gone to war at all. I think he should have waited, perhaps another year or two, before making the final decision.

The strong impression many of us have that the administration has tried to spin the war over the years and be less than honest with the U.S. public about what was going on makes the president's task now even more difficult. Remember the talk about "dead-enders"?

People are saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

The tragic thing is that Bush probably has at least a significant part of the solution this time. Pulling the troops out precipitously would clearly have disastrous consequences. Not to mention the fact that it would probably be immoral.

Then-secretary of state Colin Powell once cited what he called the "Pottery Barn Principle," that if you break something you need to pay for it. Pottery Barn later protested that they had no such policy, but Powell had the right idea. We can't just go into somebody's country, tear the place up and then leave it in shambles.

If Bush's policy ultimately fails, the most likely reason is that it does not put enough emphasis on creating a sustainable living environment in the areas that are cleared by Iraqi and U.S. military forces. This effort needs to include an outreach to the leaders of rival religious communities. I haven't seen any discussion of this and this concerns me. The terrorists have successfully exploited religious rivalries to foment more violence. Those working for peace in Iraq also need to understand the important roles to be played by the religious communities.

Another possible reason for failure is that the terrorists simply fall back and let the U.S. do what they want and create the conditions necessary for its troops to leave the country. Once the troops have left, they can come back in and continue their campaign of killing.

The Democratic move to deny funds for the buildup can only be seen as populist grandstanding that does not serve the interests of the country.