Cheney Doesn't Share

But now, as Peter Spiegel writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged Tuesday that Pentagon planners were considering alternative war plans in case the current buildup of forces in Iraq failed to quell ongoing violence in Baghdad, saying the administration strategy 'is not the last chance' to salvage the war-torn country."

So what is Plan B?

"Although he insisted the administration would give the new offensive the time and funding it needed, Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that if the strategy did not show the hoped-for results, the military would probably shift its efforts to a strategy centered on moving U.S. troops 'out of harm's way.'

"'I think that if this operation were not to succeed -- and we clearly are hoping it will succeed, planning for it to succeed, allocating the resources for it to succeed -- but I would tell you that I think I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the alternatives might be if that didn't happen,' Gates testified.

"Before Tuesday, administration officials had refused to discuss what steps they might take if President Bush's strategy, involving 21,500 extra troops, were to fail. But many congressional critics believe the plan has little chance of success.

"Although Gates did not go into detail about the Pentagon's thinking on a post-buildup plan, his acknowledgment that such a scenario would include shifting troops out of heavy combat areas could lend support to Democratic calls to immediately move American forces into more-secure locations, perhaps in neighboring Kuwait or northern Kurdish areas of Iraq."

Bloger Steve Benen notes Gates's acknowledgement that it would be irresponsible not to consider the alternatives - and writes: "Really? Less than a month ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told senators the exact opposite-- that it would be irresponsible to think about the alternatives. Asked by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about what the administration has in mind if the escalation fails to be effective, Rice said, 'It's bad policy to speculate on what you'll do if a plan fails when you're trying to make a plan work.'

"Maybe the administration can hash it out behind the scenes and let us know later whether planning for possibility of failure is responsible or not."

David Ignatius writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "Somehow, after four years, the debate on Iraq is still animated by wishful thinking. The White House talks as if a surge of 20,000 troops is going to stop a civil war. Democrats argue that when America withdraws its troops, Iraqis will finally take responsibility for their own security. But we all need to face the likelihood that this story isn't going to have a happy ending. . . .

"A useful approach may be to start planning, not for the best but for the worst. Congress and the administration should begin thinking about potential catastrophes in Iraq -- and about how to protect the core national interests of the United States and its allies."

Bush on Fiscal Responsibility

Bush traveled to a nearby computer-chip manufacturer yesterday, but even though he even brought along his own props, nobody much was paying attention.

Here's the transcript of his speech.