Plainly, the President’s purpose in addressing the nation tonight is to try

to arrest the downward slipping of public and Congressional support for the

administration’s Iraq policy.

The critical point here, it seems to me, is that whatever you may think of

that policy, if you are an American who cares about this country, you will

not want the USA to be humiliated and defeated in Iraq. In the increasingly

dangerous world we inhabit — China, Iran, N. Korea — that would be a

geopolitical catastrophe. No American should wish for that. (And it is

astonishing and shocking to me that there seem to be quite a lot of

Americans who **do** wish for it.) The President’s main appeal should

therefore be to our patriotism.

The last moment at which we might have withdrawn from Iraq without major

loss of face — i.e. perceived humiliation & defeat — was after the January

elections (when I urged just such a withdrawal). That moment came and went.

Withdrawal now would be a disaster for our country. The President should

make this clear. The “1975 scenario” — withdrawal under public and

congressional pressure, against the administration’s will — would have dire

consequences.

The subtext of the President’s remarks should be: “You may think this

nation-building project is the dumbest idea ever. You may think that going

into Iraq at all was stupid and misguided. Fine. Possibly you are right.

When we’re through, you can impeach me, and all my colleagues too, if you

like. You can string us up from the lampposts along Pennsylvania Avenue, if

you’ve a mind to. But _as of now_, the USA simply has no choice but to see

this through. The alternative would be a triumph for those who hate our

country, and a collapse in our international prestige, with drastic

consequences for us — for you, for your security and prosperity.”

And for those of us — a majority, I think, of those who have given the

matter any thought — who believe that a stable, democratic Iraq is a

pipe-dream, the President should drop some strong hints that something much

less than that will be acceptable to the admin., so long as what we leave

behind on withdrawal is not hostile to us or our interests, and the

withdrawal can be seen as amicable and honorable.