SOFA

This meta-wrangling over the Bush administration's refusal to subject its planned agreement for a long-term US military presence in Iraq is a bit silly. It is worth making the point that Bush's effort to bypass the Senate is pretty dubious. But obviously Bush is bypassing the Senate because he thinks it would lose a Senate vote. But if he would lose a Senate vote, then the Senators who would hypothetically vote no ought to be spending some time making the case on the merits against a long-term presence and not purely making the meta point that Bush should go to the congress.

The crux of the matter, of course, is that seeking a long-term presence in Iraq plays into the propaganda of anti-American forces around the world. It's a very unpopular idea with Iraqis, and it's unpopular throughout the Arab world. Given its unpopularity, it shifts the nature of the mission in Iraq toward a war for the sake of permanent bases, which isn't a cause worth fighting or dying for, and it helps fuel instability in Iraq.