The Iraq war is George Bush's war. No big revelation to anyone on the left, but to read those words in a Time magazine article as a quote from White House aides, is a different story.
White House aides respond to the Republican concerns by saying: "Regardless of what the news was going to be [from Petraeus and Crocker], the President was going to speak to the nation. He's the commander in chief and it's his responsibility. It's his war."
Apparently some in the GOP were not thrilled with Bush's decision to address the nation with his progress report on the Iraq war:
But Bush's trumpeting of what he called a "return on success" could end up backfiring. Bringing the war into America's living rooms is never a safe political bet. And if news of a slow drawdown may be popular, Bush himself is not. Some key Hill Republicans, in fact, were upset that he returned front and center on the issue at a time when the White House had so carefully ceded the selling of the surge to Petraeus and Crocker. "Why would he threaten the momentum we have?" says one frustrated Capitol Hill Republican strategist with ties to the G.O.P. leadership. "You have an unpopular President going onto prime time television, interrupting Americans' TV programs, to remind them of why they don't like him."
The Republicans and Democrats have the perfect out. This is George Bush's war and his alone. Tell George this nation is not his to use and we are not going to fight his war any longer. Stop the funding and bring the troops home. Remember and repeat that statement at every opportunity, "It's his war."