More troops for Baghdad

So, did President Bush realize only just today that there is no security in Baghdad? What, did Prime Minister al-Maliki bring him a DVD of the violence, the same way Andy Card did after Hurricane Katrina, to show him how bad it is over there?

Suddenly, Bush is willing to admit in public that more troops equals more security in U.S. occupied Iraq.

As Bush has advocated it, the establishment of a democratically elected government in Iraq was supposed to serve as an example for freedom throughout the Middle East and help quell the violence that has plagued Iraq over the past two years.

But with sectarian violence claiming 100 lives a day in Iraq, Bush pledged to steer more U.S. troops into Baghdad, in addition to "embedding" U.S. military police with Iraqi forces attempting to secure the city.

About 30,000 of the 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are currently stationed in Baghdad, but "we don't know, at this point," how many more will move there, said National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

"Obviously, the violence in Baghdad is still terrible," Bush said with al-Maliki by his side, "and therefore there needs to be more troops."

Asked how the redeployment might affect the administration's hopes of beginning significant troop withdrawals from Iraq by year's end, Bush said that remains unclear.

"One of the reasons why you trust the commanders on the ground is because there needs to be flexibility," said Bush, who has insisted that troop deployments will be based on "conditions on the ground."

"Conditions change inside a country," he said. "And the question is, are we going to be facile enough to change with—will we be nimble enough—will we be able to deal with the circumstances on the ground? And the answer is, yes, we will."

Of course, the problem is that it is probably too late for more American troops to make much of a difference. If Bush had sent enough troops in the first place, they could have secured the peace immediately following the end of the war.

Iraq is being torn apart now by a civil war. The only way for the U.S. to help to suppress the violence is to acknowledge that it is a civil war, pick a side, and kill people on the other side until they drop their weapons and sue for peace.