The Questions Bush Won't Answer

Ever since President Bush announced on Jan. 10 that he was defying the public will and increasing the U.S. military commitment in Iraq, he has been emphatic that his latest plan -- unlike all those previous ones -- would work. The key to his confidence: Iraqis, this time, are being told to get with the program -- or else.

The two obvious follow-up questions: But what do we do if it doesn't work? And "or else" what?

Bush has consistently refused to say. And nobody else in his administration will explain, either.

Given how Bush's previous plans in Iraq have failed -- and given his continued insistence that failure is "not an option" lest Iraq become a safe haven for terrorists -- it would have been entirely appropriate for the press corps to repeatedly, if not incessantly, demand answers to those two critical questions.

That didn't happen. And after a while, the stunning illogic of there being no apparent Plan B and no credible leverage with the Iraqis became just another inexplicable and yet almost entirely unmentioned part of the backstory.

But in a front-page story in today's Washington Post, Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks very correctly show that the lack of answers is news in and of itself:

"In the weeks since Bush announced the new plan for Iraq -- including an increase of 21,500 U.S. combat troops, additional reconstruction assistance and stepped-up pressure on the Iraqi government -- senior officials have rebuffed questions about other options in the event of failure. Eager to appear resolute and reluctant to provide fodder for skeptics, they have responded with a mix of optimism and evasion.

"Even if the administration is not talking about Plan B, the subject is on a lot of minds. . . .

"National security experts outside the government have stepped into the void, offering detailed options through public papers, speeches and policy proposals over the past several weeks."

DeYoung and Ricks write that those options include complete withdrawal, redeployment and "containment," and redeployment to focus on al-Qaeda.

I would submit that they left out several other potential Plan Bs that are at least as likely -- though harder to publicly advocate. One Plan B for Bush could be to simply run out the clock and leave the crisis for the next president. Another could be to shift attention to Iran. The White House also could eventually decide to advocate partition of Iraq -- or install a stronger leader.

I raised several of these possibilities in my Jan. 11 column, the day after Bush announced the "surge." And in that same column, I encouraged reporters to figure out what Plan B actually is.