The rhetoric on Iraq is definitely changing as the reality of a drawn-out and bloody civil conflict is cracking through the neo-con illusions. The lawlessness caused by foreign occupation is all pervasive.The new rhetoric is that the problem lies with the Iraqi government. The Dateline program tonight on SBS indicated that the troops are largely preoccupied with defending their bases with their presence offering target practice for insurgents. American, British and Australian troops may be in occupation but they are not in power. The Australian troops make little difference. They could leave tomorrow.

Clay Bennett

As Simon Jenkins in The Guardian correctly observes:

US and UK policy in Iraq is now entering its retreat phrase. Where there is no hope of victory, the necessity for victory must be asserted ever more strongly. This was the theme of yesterday's unreal US press conference in Baghdad, identical in substance to one I attended there three years ago. There is talk of staying the course, of sticking by friends and of not cutting and running. Every day some general or diplomat hints at ultimatums, timelines and even failure - as did the British foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, on Monday. But officially denial is all. For retreat to be tolerable it must be called victory.