Bush's Coalition of the Willing Getting Smaller

If we are to believe various reports we have read, Bush has no intention of leaving Iraq before the 2008 election; he would rather leave the job of cleaning up his mess to the next president. The reality is that the leaders of the nations belonging to Bush's coalition of the willing have usually been playing the same card: leave it to the next guy. The latest ally to turn their backs on Bush is Italy. Here's the story from CNN International:

Italy's new Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a "grave error."

"We consider the war in Iraq and the occupation of the country a grave error," Prodi told the upper house of parliament on Thursday as he outlined the program of his new government which was sworn in the day before.

"It has not resolved, but complicated the situation of security," he said. Prodi, a center-left politician...

(snip)

"It is the intention of this government to propose to parliament the return of our troops from Iraq," Prodi said, adding that his government intended to continue Italy's historically good relations with Washington.

Prodi did not give a date for a withdrawal, saying a "technical timeframe" would have to be agreed with all sides involved. Military experts say the allies would want to spread withdrawal out over several months.

One loses track of the coming and going of our allies but it looks like Bush's only remaining significant ally is Tony Blair and the British are not happy.

Maybe this nation needs a significant change in the US Constitution to deal with presidents who don't want to admit their blunders. Three years is a long time for our foreign and domestic policies to continue to drift. Impeachment is gut-wrenching for everybody, even when it's absolutely necessary and I personally think we have reached that point, but I'm not certain most Americans have come to the same conclusion. Maybe what we need is a system whereby if the president's numbers fall below 40% in at least three nationally recognized polls, the opposition can call for new elections within six months. It's something to think about.