No Questions

Allow me to throw this weekend's Time magazine poll into the mix, too. "Should the United States withdraw most troops in the next 12 months or so regardless of conditions in Iraq; keep most of the troops in Iraq until the new Iraqi government is stable, even if it means keeping troops in Iraq for a number of years; or, should we increase the number of troops in Iraq?" 47% withdraw in 12 months, 40% wait for stable government, 8% increase troops, 5% other or unsure.

Blumenthal concludes: "[W]hen pollsters ask what we should do next in Iraq, results are highly inconsistent. Support for leaving sooner varies anywhere from 35% to 63% on the questions listed above. Support for staying the course (in one form or another) varies from 36% to 59%. Ask a question with three or more options (as RT Strategies and Gallup did above) and, not surprisingly, at least a third of Americans opts for the middle category. When it comes to prospective policy, Americans - like their leaders - are divided and collectively not quite sure what to do next."

As blogger Kevin Drum notes, Ohio State University political science professor John Mueller recently argued in Foreign Affairs: "Public support for the war in Iraq has followed the same course as it did for the wars in Korea and Vietnam: broad enthusiasm at the outset with erosion of support as casualties mount. The experience of those past wars suggests that there is nothing President Bush can do to reverse this deterioration -- or to stave off an 'Iraq syndrome' that could inhibit U.S. foreign policy for decades to come."

Duke University political science professor Christopher Gelpi , whose research partner Peter Feaver is now a key member of Bush's national security staff, then responded that "the public's willingness to bear the human cost of war has varied substantially during different phases of the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. The key variable is the perceived likelihood that the mission will succeed."

Mueller then countered: "Gelpi and Feaver are also much too confident that presidential cheerleading can increase support for a military venture, as Bush, like Lyndon Johnson before him, seems to be finding out."

Jonathan Rauch wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece over the weekend: "The administration's fundamental problem is not that the public is discouraged by U.S. casualties, or that news from Iraq has been bad, or that the president needs to give better speeches. The problem is that many Americans see no stakes in Iraq sufficient to justify the military effort and diplomatic cost."

He predicts: "So by spring, if not earlier, look for Bush to announce that progress in Iraq allows U.S. forces to start coming home. He will say that the drawdown is the best way to help the Iraqis stand on their own. He will argue, much as he did with his tax cuts, that whatever pace he sets is precisely the right pace, and that withdrawing any faster or slower would be the height of irresponsibility."

9/11 Watch

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "The federal government received failing and mediocre grades yesterday from the former Sept. 11 commission, whose members said in a final report that the Bush administration and Congress have balked at enacting numerous reforms that could save American lives and prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

"The group also said there has been little progress in forcing federal agencies to share intelligence and terrorism information and sharply criticized government efforts to secure weapons of mass destruction or establish clear standards for the proper treatment of U.S. detainees."

Philip Shenon writes in the New York Times that "[t]o the likely disappointment of the White House . . . the commission's Republicans voiced some of the strongest criticism of the administration and Congress on Monday at a news conference held to release the report.

" 'The American people ought to demand answers,' said James R. Thompson, a Republican commissioner and a former Illinois governor. 'Why aren't our tax dollars being spent to protect our lives? What's the rationale? What's the excuse? There is no excuse.' "

Here's the report , which for instance calls attention to problems with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, established by statute last December. "We see little urgency in the creation of this Board. The President nominated a Chair and Vice Chair in June 2005, and sent their names to the Senate in late September. To date, the Senate has not confirmed them. Funding is insufficient, no meetings have been held, no staff named, no work plan outlined, no work begun, no office established."