Bush's Long Anticipated Iraq Speech Will Carry Very High Stakes

It simply cannot be put into words just how important the stakes are for President Bush, the U.S. and MidEast foreign policy that the ultimate outcome of the long anticipated speech on Iraq really is. Mr. Bush is putting his entire reputation on the line, or at least what's left of it. The U.S. can be drug along into an even deeper mess and quagmire in Iraq if the Bush policy horribly fails. Mr. Bush's entire place in history will rest upon the decisions announced by him tonight.

There is little reason to hold out hope that increasing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq is the right answer. The problems in Iraq appear to be political and social, not of some military nature that the U.S. can really resolve. The resolution for the country's problems appear to rest with both the government and people of Iraq, where no outside nation can really resolve this for them.

Tonight's speech will really become a defining moment for Bush, either as a "Profile In Courage" type moment, where he put his entire reputation and place in history on the line, and either surprised nearly everyone or else more likely simply horriby failed and lost a great many more American and Iraqi lives by worsening the very dire situation.

After tonight's big speech you can expect analysis here and elsewhere. That much is for certain.