Speech Prequel
I don't know what President Bush will say tonight but here are a few points I take with me in to the speech.
First, we are further down the path, and closer to our goal, than the media has reported for the last several months now. The goal is a democratic Iraq, governed by Iraqis. For months we've been told that things are going horribly, but we're never told how the horribleness translates into our inability to complete the job. It doesn't.
Second, we are constantly told we can't "finish the job" without international help, but I don't see it. We tried to build the broadest coalition we could. France and Germany decided to pass and I don't see why or how they will be convinced that now is the time to join in, or what they could bring to the table if they did. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why, at this point, they'd be inclined to join in any event.
Daniel Drezner goes further out on a limb than I will. "One prediction -- it will be impossible for media write-ups not to link the situation in Iraq with the physical aftereffects of Bush's bicycle accident."