Another Conservative Admits Failure in Iraq

These guys are beginning to sound like the far left anti-war, anti-America, anti-troops crowd:

"It Didn't Work"

"One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed."

"Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans."

"The accompanying postulate was that the invading American army would succeed in training Iraqi soldiers and policymkers to cope with insurgents bent on violence. This last did not happen. And the administration has, now, to cope with failure."

"Mr. Bush has a very difficult internal problem here because to make the kind of concession that is strategically appropriate requires a mitigation of policies he has several times affirmed in high-flown pronouncements. His challenge is to persuade himself that he can submit to a historical reality without forswearing basic commitments in foreign policy.

He will certainly face the current development as military leaders are expected to do: They are called upon to acknowledge a tactical setback, but to insist on the survival of strategic policies.

Yes, but within their own counsels, different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat."
-William Buckley, National Review Editor at Large