I'm beginning to fear that Bush-Cheney-Rove are going to wiggle out of the tight spot they've been in. Truces are being arranged in the troublesome cities. American casualties will become scarce. The UN Security Council will pass the U.S.-U.K. resolution apparently giving the new Iraqi interim government"full sovereignty," including the authority to ask U.S. and other foreign forces to leave. Even though the new U.S.-backed Iraqi prime minister says that their exit would be a"disaster," the Bush administration will be able to tell the American people that democracy and peace are taking root and that the U.S. will be out in the foreseeable future. Result? Bush's reelection. Whatever else they are, they are competent politicians. (They also happen to be lucky enough to have the cipher John Kerry as an opponent.)

There goes our hope for gridlock: Kerry in the White House fighting with a GOP Congress.

Don't me wrong: I want the killing to stop; I want the Iraqis to be on their own; and I want the U.S. out. But I also want Bush defeated. It's the only punishment he and his people will understand.