And eventually it becomes someone else's problem

The pattern is now clear: Demand that everyone else withhold judgment on Iraq until some new assessment arrives, announce that you’re doing whatever you want to do no matter what, declare the ensuing debate to be too late, and then start the whole process over again six or nine months down the road by demanding that everyone withhold judgment again. It may not be any way to wage a war, but Bush’s political tactics — and the deaths of a few hundred more American soldiers in the meantime — seem certain to buy him enough time to kick the problem to his successor.

• Tim Grieve