Rumsfeld Changes Course One Day Before Midterms

Timing is everything in politics. Especially, when Donald Rumsfeld decides to give the White House a classified memo a day before the election.

The situation in Iraq has been evolving, and U.S. forces have adjusted, over time, from major combat operations to counterterrorism, to counterinsurgency, to dealing with death squads and sectarian violence. In my view it is time for a major adjustment. Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough. Following is a range of options:

Rumsfeld then goes through a laundry list of options. Which run the gantlet from a "modest withdrawals" of troops to reaching out to extremists to get them to play nice. The truth is Rumsfeld isn't offering new ideas. He does have hairbrained schemes that have already failed.

Move a large fraction of all U.S. Forces into Baghdad to attempt to control it.

The military options will no longer work. Iraqis have to want peace. Right now we see the ethnic factions killing each other for control. This is a civil war. It will be a civil war when America leaves. Regardless, of whether that is before or after the end of Bush's term.