President Bush’s strategy on Iraq comes down to this: Keep holding to a failing course for the next 29 months and leave it to the next administration to clean up the mess.

That abdication of responsibility cannot be allowed to continue at the expense of American lives, military readiness and international influence. With the Republican majority in Congress moving in perpetual lock step behind the White House, the job of pressing the issue has been dumped in the laps of the Democrats.

Bush’s cheerleading encourages the illusion that it is just a matter of time and US support before Iraq evolves into a stable democracy. The Democratic timetable spins a different fantasy: that if the Iraqis are told that US troops will be leaving in stages at specific dates. The only responsible way out of Iraq involves enlisting help from the Arab neighbours and European allies.

America’s allies have an interest in not seeing Iraq turn into a hive of terrorists and a font of regional instability.

However, before other nations become involved they would certainly insist on a laundry list of US concessions, from a share in war-related business for their contractors to an all-out US push for a renewed peace process among Israel, the Palestinians and their neighbours. — The New York Times