Secret Surrender

There is one sure way for George Bush to assure his place in historical approbrium - flee from Iraq.

Inside the Bush administration policymaking apparatus, there is strong feeling that U.S. troops must leave Iraq next year. This determination is not predicated on success in implanting Iraqi democracy and internal stability. Rather, the officials are saying: ready or not, here we go.

This prospective policy is based on Iraq's national elections in late January, but not on ending the insurgency or reaching a national political settlement. Getting out of Iraq would end the neo-conservative dream of building democracy in the Arab world. The U.S. would be content having saved the world from Saddam Hussein's quest for weapons of mass destruction.

Only this course is certain to make the United State less secure than it was before 9/11. Instead of a peaceful democracy, Iraq will become another Afghanistan.