Stand By for Another Change of Goals in Iraq

Once more, the Bush Administration has changed the goal of the invasion of Iraq. As described in a Reuters dispatch:

The Navy admiral in line to become the U.S. commander for the Middle East has signaled he favors redefining the goals and some experts say U.S. officials already have done so privately.

In his State of the Union speech on Jan. 23, President George W. Bush declared: "Our goal is a democratic Iraq that upholds the rule of law, respects the rights of its people, provides them security, and is an ally in the war on terror."

But the aim right now -- and the administration knows it -- is just to stop a further descent into civil war from clashes between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, said Anthony Cordesman, one of Washington's most prominent military analysts.

"At this point in time, the main goal is to get through the next year without seeing a major deterioration in the situation in Iraq," said Cordesman, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.