maybe they'll start listening

or else make it worse since they know they aren't the ones that are gonna have to clean it all up

Iraq, said the speaker, is "a setback. You can't sugar-coat that. We've reached a point where we've got to get real. This is not going to be a near-term success for American foreign policy. The Iraq situation's not winnable in any meaningful sense of the word 'winnable.' So what the United States needs to do now is look for a way to limit the losses and costs."

This wasn't just any old armchair observer talking on Thursday. It was Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former member of the President's foreign policy team. Haass worked for Ronald Reagan, for Bush's father and, as the policy planning boss at State under Colin Powell during Bush's first term. By virtue of his post at CFR, he is as close as you can come these days to the voice of the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

--story