Opinion (Jim Wright): A war in which no one wins and everyone loses

President Bush's position vis-À-vis Iraq grows daily more untenable as the war grows increasingly unpopular at home and abroad.

Seven out of 10 Americans polled last week disapprove of the war. Retiring U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan chides the U.S. president for his go-it-alone strategy. Even Bush-blessed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki calls for a Middle Eastern conference of nations (which Bush dismisses) to discuss the region's future.

The president often has tersely reiterated that U.S. troops will persist in Iraq until they have "completed the job." At first undefined, the "job" now seems to emerge as the creation of an Iraqi governing force that can maintain order on our terms but without our help.

Bush, and all of us, may have to settle for something slightly less triumphal than his repeated declaration that he'll stop at nothing short of undisputed "victory." We are rapidly approaching the point at which some semblance of stability and a measurable lessening of violence, allowing the elected Iraqi government to move toward domestic tranquility, may have to suffice.

Nobody can legitimately claim victory in a war like this. Nobody wins. Everyone loses.

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