Iraq Study to Reshape National Debate About War

But Gates will serve at the pleasure of the president. It is not clear whether Bush now shares Gates's assessment or whether the commander-in-chief is still so wedded to his policies that he will resist the kinds of significant changes that others around him are calling for.

National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley said Sunday the president is open to ideas he has previously rejected because he too recognizes that Iraq is not moving quickly enough toward success. The president's decisions are expected before the end of the year.

Although the principal onus from the report falls on Bush, the stakes now are high for the Democrats as well. The Baker-Hamilton commission report carries an implicit warning to the party now in control of Congress: Criticism of the president's Iraq policy alone is no longer sufficient.

One notable finding of the Baker-Hamilton commission was the rejection of a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, a policy favored by many Democratic elected officials and even more rank-and-file Democrats around the country. Just as the report puts pressure on Bush to change, it will require adaptation by Democratic leaders as well.

The real value of the bipartisan report may come in pushing Bush and Democratic leaders in Congress toward more cooperative efforts to develop a workable strategy for beginning to disengage from combat in Iraq without leaving that country and the region in chaos.

Bush alluded to that this morning. "The country, in my judgment, is tired of pure political bickering that happens in Washington and they understand that on this important issue of war and peace, it is best for our country to work together," he said.

Bush has contributed to the climate of distrust and polarization. Bush, Vice President Cheney and other Republicans used the fall campaign to warn that Democrats favor a strategy of capitulation to the terrorists. As Bush put it in October, "their approach comes down to this: "The terrorists win and America loses."

But the Democrats, too, approached the Iraq debate through much of the past year as an opportunity to score political points ahead of the midterm elections. Those elections are now history, and the Baker-Hamilton report now stands front and center.

As Baker noted this morning in unveiling the findings, "there is no magic formula" that will convert Iraq into a qualified success story. Managing failure, preventing things from becoming worse and gradually turning around a bleak situation in the Middle East are the immediate challenges facing the president and the Democrats in Congress.