Clearly...

Clearly, given the continued gravity of the situation in Iraq, with respect to the insurgency, terrorism, governance and the economy, the administration must take frank—and often pessimistic—assessments more seriously. Repeated promises that go unfulfilled, statements of “progress” in the face of sustained violence, repeated delays in reconstruction and continued Iraqi governmental dysfunction, brutality and corruption are partly the result of leaders replacing hardheaded analysis with wishful thinking.

The attack last week on the mosque in Samarra and the violence that followed only underline how much more vulnerable and volatile the situation in Iraq has become. The continuing turmoil contradicts recent statements by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before Congress, when she offered yet another seemingly indignant reassurance that things were on track, in the face of tough questioning by Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. Despite the smoke screen, recent polling indicates that the American public has a better grasp of reality when it comes to the troubling situation in Iraq than some of their leaders.