>Bush stated that if the United States pulled out of Iraq, it would send a message to the insurgents that they need only to wait, and sooner or later, they win. While this might be true, this is not going to be a war if attrition. The insurgency has an unlimited supply of fighters willing to travel to Iraq for the chance of killing Americans, so “staying the course” is a plan doomed to failure.

I think that if bush were to pull out then his legacy, and I believe that he is extremely worried about this, would certainly be in tatters and the remainder of his presidency would be dogged by his actions. And come the next elections the republican party would be hit very badly

In conclusion, it seems that the Bush administration has had its eye on Iraq since the beginning, before the attacks and that no amount of truth and no rising body count is going to sway them from their plans.

This was confirmed by people who were staff members before Sept 11th and left. The attack was mooted and some early planning took place.
Slán
~M