In it for the long haul.

• Author: Howell, Llewellyn D.
• Position: WORLD WATCHER

THE WAR IN IRAQ CANNOT END for the U.S. until George W. Bush leaves the Oval Office. After four years of running with scissors in Iraq, the President stubbornly is determined to go forward with the fighting, no matter what the cost, consequence, or rationale. It really cannot end any sooner, despite the best hopes of Democrats in Congress. Bush can continue to veto any legislation they put forward at virtually no political cost, while the financial ramifications all will be defrayed. Democrats cannot halt the military and war budgets without being labeled unpatriotic. Arguments in hearings or on the campaign trail will not do a thing. Bush and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney have wrapped themselves in an imperial presidency that accepts neither criticism nor advice.

However, political and military logistics eventually will force an end to the war. As pointed out by Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack of The New York Times, there always is some good news out of Iraq, and the President can choose to play the victory card during the 2008 election. Any measure of success will be arbitrary. An announcement of a troop reduction in April and then another in September will make Bush and the Republicans look like they are winding down the war, without actually reducing the number of troops to anything below what it was before "the surge." All they need is an announcement. Then they can leave the Iraqi mess to the next commander in chief.

The Democrats are right to keep pushing for an end to U.S. involvement. They are but one of many forces at work, and their absence as aggressive resistance would change the balance. If we call the fight between Bush-Cheney and the Democrats a stalemate, what are the other elements of the Iraqi war equation? It is important to note that the reference here concerns the U.S. war in Iraq, as there are many wars raging in that country. Some, at least, will go on without the U.S., particularly that between Sunni and Shia.

Recent polls indicate that there is less support for suicide bombers in the Muslim world, but still mounting antagonism toward the U.S. and Israel. Yet, this is attitude, not physical capability. There is not any evidence that "we have to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here"--"them" being Muslim radicals. There is, however, some likelihood that foreign fighters are preoccupied with the opportunity to kill Americans in Iraq instead of carrying the war directly to their primary interest...