Fallujah

The attack on Fallujah is soon. If Kerry wins by a hair on Tuesday, then I'd go as far as saying that Bush would have won were it not for his vacillation back in April when we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Fallujah. Just like Truman and LBJ, Bush may very well be brought down by half-heartedness in war.

A common complaint about Bush is that he's too stubborn, ignoring the opinions of others. I think the opposite is true. Bush didn't rush to war. The U.S. wasted months giving Saddam one last chance with renewed inspections. What did we gain from this? At best, we gave Blair some more domestic political cover. However, we gave our enemies more time to prepare to undermine us in Iraq, and our extended bickering with France, Germany, et al hardened more minds than it changed. In Fallujah this April, the Bush administration made the same mistake: they slowed down for fear of offending others, this time Iraqis. Again, this just delayed the inevitable, doing much more harm than good in the meanwhile.

Unfortunately for America, the alternative to a sometimes wobbly Bush is a political weathervane.