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Time to face reality of failure in Iraq
By Steve Chapman

September 5, 2003

CHICAGO - Back when the occupation of Iraq was expected to consist of a victory parade and a glorious flowering of democracy, the Bush administration was content to handle the job alone. But this week, it finally acknowledged that the only thing worse than being mired in a catastrophe is being mired there all by yourself. So it is planning to solicit the United Nations for volunteers to share its misery.

This is quite a reversal for a president who previously thought the reason you need allies is so you have someone to alienate. Whether he will find many countries eager to furnish large numbers of human targets for Iraq's shooting gallery is another question. As the Aug. 19 bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad proved, the people intent on driving out American forces are equally prepared to slaughter anyone else who looks like an occupier....