A bit of a rant.
I have come to the realization that the Chimp's Hour of Truth will soon be upon him. The US Military is stretched to the breaking point, and they can't stay there forever. The January elections will be a sham and (worse in the view of the Administration) will be widely seen as a sham in both Iraq and the media. Even optimists will probably admit that the best headline that will come out of Iraq will be 'Violence Mars Elections'.
On top of all that, Bush is pushing Social Security privatization, and hard, and the signs seem to be that he just doesn't have the support to get it done if the Democrats push back on it. It is a long term item anyways, and as an issue it will soon fade into the background compared to the coming shitstorm.
On top of all that, coverage from Iraq will probably dominate the airwaves in coming weeks as it grows increasingly apparent that the elections will be seriously destabilizing.
The point of all this blather is that while Bush has been putting off making any decisions in Iraq, he can't put it off much longer in relative terms. Certainly not until after his term expires, and probably not longer than an additional year from now or so. The situation created by his actions has endpoints that are all hideously unpopular as well as being supremely bad in all respects. Bush will need to implement at least a limited draft simply to maintain troop strength in Iraq, a major draft to increase troop strength, a full withdrawal, or a limited withdrawal.
All this is bad news, but the upshot is that it will be a splash of cold water in the face of Bushco and war proponents, and will with luck result a severe curbing in Bush's popularity and power, especially in the media. Since the war is also identified with the Republican party (at least here in the US, if not abroad), I think that the coming few months represent the apex of the power of the rampaging 'conservative' movement. Which is good for the United States, although simply terrible for our fellow men in Iraq. (ALL of them.)
Frankly, Iran-Contra was peanuts compared to the shitstorm this President will face, in my estimation.
Bush made a serious mistake. He got re-elected, and it will be the end of him, since he doesn't have the least idea in how to begin solving the problems that he created.