“Stay the course” is not a plan for Iraq – especially because no one can even define the course we are urged to stay. Republican sloganeering covers up a failure built on intellectual quicksand and policy flip-flops.

Today, President Bush is asking the military to perform a task he previously argued was wholly inappropriate. When, in October 2000, he said, “I don’t think our troops ought to be used for what’s called nation-building,” Bush was attacking President Clinton’s successful multilateral efforts in the Balkans, not yet knowing that he would both completely flip-flop and fail where his predecessor succeeded.

Bush’s policy stumbled on those tricky little nuances he so disdains. There are indeed circumstances when using the military to build nations is likely to fail, as with Iraq, while other situations, like those in the Balkans, increase the probability of success.

Unlike the president, Democrats understand that our chances of success in Iraq improve if we begin to remove our forces now but worsen if we maintain the permanent, open-ended commitment endorsed by the GOP.

We should begin redeployment because: