Evidently the new game plan for selling escalation in Iraq comes down to "a choice between withdrawal or surge."  Kudos to the White House for painting things as starkly black and white as that.  Why does it seem you couldn't ask for a better strategy to switch most people from being against immediate withdrawal to being for it?  In fact, it kinda reminds me of those days when if you said you didn't think that invading and occupying Iraq would work according to plan then you were faced with the choice of "supporting the war on terror" or "supporting Saddam Hussein and terrorism".  If you tried to express skepticism as to the effectiveness of our occupation and governance of Iraq you were told that you had the choice between supporting the spread of freedom and democracy or having Saddam Hussein in power.  Man, those were good times for our national dialogue and not at all divisive. 

Nevertheless, given that the choices are so incredibly stark, I would personally ask for one more bit of reassurance from Mr. Bush: what do we do next if your plan fails?  If in fact this is an all or nothing battle, termed by some  "Stalingrad on the Tigris", and even the "architects" of the plan can't conceive of what to do if it doesn't work, could you fill us in Mr. President on what happens next if and when it doesn't work?  I'm just asking because I'm pretty sure no one at the White House or Pentagon is really talking about this and no one in the media is gonna expect you to answer it so they won't seriously pose the question. 

Not long ago you said that if you didn't think we could win in Iraq then you wouldn't keep the troops there.  That's easy to say when you think no one will call you on it but after almost every strategy and policy you've proposed to keep this quagmire going has never worked, it would be refreshing if at the end of the day you'd put up or shut up.  I know you don't agree but most of us think its really getting to be too much to ask so many to die in one blunder after another.  You have a fondness for talking about the real world and "real" people, but in the real world most of us actually try something new when confronted with constant failure.