At Iraq's Edge

There used to be a saying that politics stopped at the water's edge, but that is not true with Iraq. The Democrats, not sure why they won and what to do with the war, and the President, who is totally without a clue as what to do, are involved in a titanic battle on prerogatives. Should there be a timetable to leave or should there be benchmarks? Somehow that is supposed to be a major defining moment for the parties and also one in which the entire Middle East is at stake. But the Iraqi government has already said that it wants the U.S. out of the country by the end of this calendar year. That is their government responding to their public opinion.