THE MAN WITH A PLAN

Rosa Brooks just doesn't get it. Here she is making fun of Bush's new plan for success in Iraq: Make the new Iraqi Prime Minister come up with a plan.

Doesn't she know that Bush doesn't "do plans" any more than he "does nuance"? He's a man of ACTION, not thought. He's the Republican macho ideal -- act first and think later. He's already stated that he would let the next president of the United States figure out what to do about Iraq. So why be surprised that HIS plan is to get OTHERS to make a plan?

The House Republican plan to change the subject and blame the Democrats is almost as good as the Bush plan to get the Iraqis to come up with an Iraq plan. After all, Sun Tzu famously said that "all warfare is deception," and "divert and distract" is a tried and true method of warfare. They don't call the Republicans the national security party for nothing!

What's that? Diversion and distraction tactics are supposed to be used against the enemy on the battlefield, not against the American electorate? Hey, whose side are you on here?

About those Democrats. Naturally, they have a few Iraq plans too. And though the various Democratic plans differ in their details, they're all built on the common-sense recognition that the Iraq war has been a disaster for Iraqis and for U.S. efforts to combat global terrorism; that our ongoing, open-ended presence in Iraq is part of the problem; that we need to begin a phased drawdown of troops — now.

The funny thing is, if Bush had spent more than a few hours in Baghdad on Tuesday, he might have realized that the Democratic plans for Iraq are remarkably in sync with Iraqi aspirations for Iraq.

Tags: president Bush, Iraq, Republican Congress