Wishful ThinkingMike Rappaport

It is a bit risky to believe a New York Times article that emphasizes problems with Bush’s Iraq policy (of course, all the Times’s articles do), but even a broken clock is sometimes correct.   The problem with Bush’s new policy it appears, surprise, surprise, is that the Shia government does not seem willing to go after their own militias. 

This was to be expected.  The Bush Administration should now be attempting to influence Maliki through threats — as I have said before, threatening to withdraw support for him and moving towards promoting a three region solution.   But it seems beyond the Bush Administration to do anything imaginative.   Instead, they are engaged in wishful thinking.

(If one does not like the regional solution, perhaps the US should just threaten to leave — as others have suggested.  If the US is to withdraw from Iraq with a defeat — and I surely hope it does not happen — perhaps there are worse ways than doing so because the Shia would not cooperate and make a deal with the Sunnis.  Yes, we would have failed, but we would have left because we recognized the autonomy of the democratic government and refused to be party to their behavior.)