Bush Admits Failure

And I commend him for doing so. In fact, I would say that the President gave a pretty good speech tonight, though I'm still not buying what he's selling. I like that he named specific mistakes that had been made in the past and specific tactics that he hopes will ultimately secure Baghdad. And I will give the President credit for giving a more engaging speech than Dick Durbin, who gave the official Democratic rebuttal. (But Durbin's approach to the war nonetheless makes a lot more sense to me than Bush's.)

On the other hand, I must take issue with some of what the President said:

• I don't think the plan the President outlined constitutes a "new strategy" as the administration suggests. Maybe it's just a matter of semantics, but I think the President is only implementing new tactics to tweak the existing strategy.


• Bush again implied that the Iraq War has something to do with 9/11. He needs to stop doing that.


• The President's vague threats to Iran and Syria make me nervous. I'm not convinced that we have the available resources to even suggest militarily engaging Iraq's neighbors.