Opinion (Joseph Galloway): A way forward -- but to what?

President Bush asked Congress and the American people last week to give him one more chance to get the strategy and tactics right as his war in Iraq moves into its fifth year, with ever-rising costs in blood and national treasure.

His choice to command this final phase, Army Gen. David Petraeus, told senators at his confirmation hearing the day before Bush's State of the Union speech that the president's mini-escalation, adding 21,500 American troops to the 130,000 already there, would take until late May.

Petraeus said that, consequently, we wouldn't know until late this summer whether the president's gamble was paying off. He promised that if it weren't working, he'd say so.

If it isn't working (and that seems to be a pretty good bet at this point, given how many weak reeds the plan rests upon), we're likely to know well before the general tells us.

Read the rest at the Star Telegram