I hate to take up a Fisking at this late hour

but the WaPo is asking for it. I'll just do a paragraph or two:

As much as has gone wrong in recent months, there remains a viable way forward on both the political and military fronts. That course is one identified not by us or the Bush administration but by United Nations mediators and Iraqis themselves. The administration has begun to embrace this strategy, but there is still much more the president must do to make a successful outcome possible.

Yacking is enough to satisfy killers. That paragraph takes care of itself, fisk-wise.

America's greatest disadvantage now is that it has almost entirely lost the political authority and public tolerance it enjoyed in Iraq a year ago.

How did we gain that authority, and, I would say "deference" rather than "tolerance."

A poll released last week by CNN and USA Today showed that 71 percent of Iraqis regard coalition troops as occupiers.

71% of Iraqis acknowledge reality. That would make a great headline for an article about how delusionary 29% of them were.

Fifty-seven percent say they would like the foreign forces to leave immediately, even though a majority also say that a pullout would make the situation worse.

One presumes that the 57% make up about 3/4 of the 71% who acknowledge the reality that the coalition is an occupying force and are not diluted by those who refuse to acknowledge (no doubt for political/rhetorical reasons) that occupying is part of liberating.

The many errors of the U.S.-led occupation,

As opposed to the deliberate evil repression of the Baathist regime

ranging from failure to create a more international administration

in the face of the short-sighted selfish opposition of the French, German and Russian governments

to the slowness of reconstruction

Construction is always slower than destruction

and, most recently, the shocking reports of mistreatment of prisoners have helped create a situation in which no U.S. political initiative is likely to be accepted by Iraqis.

Yep, it was treasonous behavior that must be prosecuted.

Unilateral military actions, even against extremists with little support, risk touching off a national uprising.

Non-sequitur: the extremists don't love the U.N. any more than I do. Considerably less, I should think.

Weak allies are at greater risk than strong ones. Even John Kerry realizes that failure is not an option in Iraq.