A Karl Rove Solution for Iraq?

"General Petraeus, too, has warned in recent months that while there is a high price for staying in Iraq, including mounting American casualties, the price for leaving could be higher than many war critics have acknowledged. Some opponents of the war have argued the contrary, saying that keeping American troops in Iraq provokes much of the violence and that withdrawing could force Iraq's feuding politicians into burying their sectarian differences."

Crocker also endorsed the new administration rhetoric I described in Monday's column, Bush Tries Moving the Goalposts.

Burns and Rubin write: "The ambassador also suggested what is likely to be another core element of the approach that he and General Petraeus will take to the September report: that the so-called benchmarks for Iraqi government performance set by Congress in a defense authorization bill this spring may not be the best way of assessing whether the United States has a partner in the Baghdad government that warrants continued American military backing. 'The longer I'm here, the more I'm persuaded that Iraq cannot be analyzed by these kind of discrete benchmarks,' he said."

Executive Privilege

David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis write in the New York Times: "President Bush invoked a broad interpretation of executive privilege on Monday in his confrontation with Congress over the dismissal of federal prosecutors, refusing to comply with subpoenas for documents and blocking testimony from former White House aides."

Richard B. Schmitt writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush's decision to defy congressional demands for documents and testimony in the U.S. attorneys case leaves Democrats with a difficult choice of lowering their sights in the investigation or facing a long and uncertain court fight. . . .

"The apparent unwillingness of the White House to engage in the sort of political compromise that has marked such subpoena battles in the past has put the tug-of-war in uncertain terrain. Congress is left having to decide whether to move forward with rancorous contempt proceedings against administration officials or accept a limited offer of cooperation that White House Counsel Fred F. Fielding renewed Monday in a letter to congressional leaders. . . .

"'Whether out of arrogance or principled conviction, the current administration has seemed all but oblivious to the political downside of insisting on executive-branch secrecy,' said Peter M. Shane, an expert on executive privilege at the Ohio State law school. 'Given that no one in the White House is seeking reelection, it is unclear whether they will compromise, short of receiving some extraordinary pressure from congressional Republicans who may be more concerned than the president with appearing to represent the 'party of cover-up.' ' . . .

"'I think Congress has a very legitimate right to see whether there is corruption and illegality within the Justice Department,' said Louis Fisher, an expert on executive privilege at the Library of Congress. 'Are White House people involved in appointment and removal matters that should be done by Justice Department people?'

"Fisher was alluding to testimony that some Justice officials considered politics in filling positions at the department, a possible violation of federal law.

"'Once the White House people go away from purely giving confidential advice and start to administer or run a department, then I think they begin to lose their immunity,' Fisher said. 'Otherwise, Congress can never get to the bottom of anything.'"

Peter Baker and Dan Eggen write in The Washington Post: "Mark J. Rozell, a George Mason University political scientist and author of 'Executive Privilege,' said the Bush administration's claim in this case 'goes way beyond the proper scope of executive privilege' because it is not limited to specific discussions and amounts to 'a blanket prohibition on former aides discussing anything at all.' . . .

"Cass R. Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor, also said the administration's privilege claim is less persuasive if it includes communications with people outside the executive branch, as Fielding's letter indicates."