The quagmire in Iraq seems to deepen by the week, with the guerrilla resistance growing stronger and more sophisticated. The past month has been particularly sobering for the United States: five American helicopters downed, more than eighty American soldiers killed, and more departures among the nongovernmental organizations and international bodies needed to help in reconstruction.

In response to these events and to a new CIA report warning of the growing disaffection of the Iraqi people, the Bush Administration has unveiled an "Iraqization" strategy that moves up the date for turning over some control to an Iraqi governing body to June and that speeds up the process of training Iraqi police and security forces. Also anticipated is the first withdrawal of US troops next spring, several months before the presidential election.

The new Bush policy seems more an exercise in political expediency--an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the US occupation while preparing the way to cut and run if the going gets tough--than a serious plan for fostering Iraqi democracy, stabilizing the country or bringing US troops safely home. Indeed, as Jalal Talabani, current president of the US-appointed Governing Council, made clear to the Washington Post, the United States will still be pulling the strings even after the handover, with American troops remaining as "invited guests."

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