Senators Ask for Bush Rethink of Iraq Policies as Elections Loom

Senators Ask for Bush Rethink of Iraq Policies as Elections Loom: "The fact is a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies is required. We didn't do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to the point where we finally lost," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran who is co-chairman of President Bush's re-election committee in Nebraska. "We can't lose this. It is too important."

It's a little late to start thinking about what's important in Iraq if what's important is "not losing". I think Bush has already lost it for us, by insisting on going it alone, or on going it with a "coalition of the willing", which seems to be practically indistinguishable from going it alone.

What is truly important is not asking more troops to risk their lives for nothing. The US has already paid far too great a price for Bush's folly of ridding Iraq of WMDs that weren't. The idea of more US boots on the ground in Fallujah is simply unacceptable at this juncture, given that Bush has thus far done everything in his power to alienate much-needed potential allies.