Bloggings by boz

Add Peter Beinart to the list of people who understand that Bush's failed leadership is the reason support for the war in Iraq is slipping at home.

But the Out of Iraq Caucus didn't come from nowhere. It's the result of President Bush's ongoing refusal to speak honestly about the war. All but the most die-hard sycophants now acknowledge that before the war the Bush administration exaggerated the threat from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and terrorist ties. And that it lowballed the costs -- in money, troops and time -- of building a stable, liberal government in Baghdad. Yet even today the president keeps playing the same dishonest games. In his June 18 radio address, Bush said, in the context of Iraq, that "we went to war because we were attacked." He's still implying a connection between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11, 2001 -- even now!

A plurality of Americans now believe they were "deliberately misled" before the war. When the president talks to the country about Iraq on Tuesday night, he needs to address that. Otherwise, he'll never have the credibility to tell Americans the harsh truth: that Iraqi troops won't be ready to defend their government for two years or more. And until they can, brave young U.S. soldiers will have to keep doing the job.

...But if Bush wants to stem the rising sentiment for withdrawal, he needs to do something he has avoided for more than two years: He needs to make this a national war, not a partisan one. That means appointing independent figures to key jobs -- people like Richard Lugar or Sam Nunn, who come from outside the conservative cocoon. And it means speaking about Iraq with a humility that this administration has richly earned.

For America to win in Iraq, President Bush first needs to win back America's trust. Let's hope it's not too late.

And as the LA Times notes today, Cheney isn't helping by being dishonest about the insurgency.