"Iraq Is Not Winnable"

So says Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and you don't get more Establishment than that.

Haass: We've reached a point in Iraq where we've got to get real. And this is not going to be a near-term success for American foreign policy. The Iraq situation is not winnable in any meaningful sense of the word "winnable." So what we need to do now is look for a way to limit the losses and costs, try to advance on other fronts in the region and try to limit the fallout of Iraq. That's what you have to do sometimes when you're a global power.

Mr. Haas also has an article in Foreign Affairs which argues:

The age of U.S. dominance in the Middle East has ended and a new era in the modern history of the region has begun. It will be shaped by new actors and new forces competing for influence, and to master it, Washington will have to rely more on diplomacy than on military might.

Meanwhile conservative commentator Ben Stein says Iraq Better Off With Saddam

Stein, a former speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford and a frequent contributor to the "CBS Sunday Morning News,” went on to castigate the Bush administration for its invasion of Iraq: "I’ve never seen a foreign policy mistake quite this bad. [Bush] just made a terrible mistake.

"We were better off with Saddam Hussein running Iraq. It breaks my heart, but it’s true.”