The 80% Solution

Yesterday, George W. Bush once again said that leaving Iraq "before the job was done" would be wrong because of:

...the 12 million people who voted in the Iraqi election. They want to live in a free society.

Apparently Bush might have to adjust his purple-fingered prose downward, because today's Washington Post  is reporting that the administration is giving consideration to a State Department proposal to abandon their efforts at reconciliation with Sunni factions because:

U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that their reconciliation efforts may even have backfired, alienating the Shiite majority and leaving the United States vulnerable to having no allies in Iraq

So as the carnage in Iraq continues to mount, the talk of  Shia, Sunnis and Kurds governing together in unity may give way to what some are calling the "80% solution," a reference to Sunnis making up 20% of Iraq's population.  In essence, the Bush administration is considering cutting and running from the Sunnis.  And of course, one must ask if this alienated Shiite majority is actually named Moqtada al-Sadr, the man who has been hanging the Sword of Damocles over the heads of Prime Minister Maliki and George W. Bush for months.  

In the end, what happens in Iraq will be up to the Iraqis and they will no doubt pay a heavy price for years to come.  Publicly, the administration continues to deny that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war, but with the imminent release of the Iraq Study Group report and the desertion of even their staunchest allies, it seems that Bush has finally decided on an exit strategy:

...leave leadership of the thorny task of reconciliation to the Iraqis.

Another way to put it might be, we broke it, the Sunnis bought it.