Never mind how badly the war is going in Iraq. President George W Bush has been swaggering around like a victorious general because he cowed a wobbly coalition of Democrats into dropping their attempt to impose a time limit on his disastrous misadventure.

By week’s end, Bush was acting as though that bit of parliamentary strong-arming had left him free to ignore not just the Democrats, but also the vast majority of Americans, who want him to stop chasing illusions of victory and concentrate on how to stop the sacrifice of young Americans’ lives. And, ever faithful to his illusions, Bush was insisting that he was the only person who understood the true enemy.

We, too, believe that Iraq has to be made as stable as possible so the US can withdraw its troops without unleashing even more chaos and destruction. But Bush is not doing that, and his version of reality only makes it more unlikely. The only solution lies with the Iraqi leaders, who have to stop their sectarian blood feud and make a real attempt to form a united government. That is their best chance to stabilise the country, allow the US to withdraw and, yes, battle Al Qaeda. As disjointed as the Democrats have been, their approach makes far more sense than Bush’s denial of Iraq’s civil war and his war-without-end against terror.