Say it again, President Bush.
Tell the country, remind the world, about the grand coalition that followed the United States into a futile war in Iraq more than four years ago.
Here's Britain planning to pull half of its remaining 5,000 troops out of Iraq by next spring, and hinting at withdrawing the rest of them by the end of next year. That word came Monday from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the successor to Tony Blair, whose political fortunes soured largely because he supported a war most people in Britain oppose.
What's so odd about Mr. Brown's announcement, though, is that he's stealing a page out of Mr. Bush's script even as he's trying to distance himself from the President. Britain can begin leaving Iraq, Mr. Brown explains, because the Iraqis themselves are suddenly up to the job of maintaining something resembling order. Basra, where the British forces are based, is more calm, says Mr. Brown.
To that assertion, however, comes the sort of sharply pointed jeers that are a hallmark of British politics. A forced retreat from a lawless land dominated by Islamic radicals, comes the word from Toby Dodge of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. It could signal how U.S. policy could shift after Mr. Bush leaves office.
Of course, withdrawal of the 168,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, or even what's expected to be more like 130,000 troops by next summer, would come much more readily if the political opposition in America were as vocal and aggressive as it is in Britain. Instead, while Mr. Brown goes ahead with his politically delicate exit strategy, the Democrats who control Congress have given up trying to pass legislation requiring the troops to come home or to cut off the $190 billion the Bush administration says it needs for simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Democrats make Mr. Brown look much bolder than he actually is as they bide their time, waiting for the Republicans to see the war as a political liability for themselves as the 2008 elections approach.
Yet the anti-war forces have what should be a strong argument in the disintegration of international support for the war. There were 50,000 foreign forces, including 40,000 from Britain, not long after the U.S.-led invasion in early 2003. Come next summer, that number will be down to about 7,000.
Denmark is reducing its presence in Iraq, from a contingent of 560 troops in Basra to just a small helicopter unit -- and with what should be a parting warning to the United States. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen admits to a miscalculation when he reasoned, four years ago, that "foreign troops would be welcomed with open arms like liberators."
When will Mr. Bush realize the extent to which the United States stands all but alone?
