Rosy illusions about Iraq

Gen. Abizaid's overview, delivered to a Senate committee, came on a day in which four car bombs exploded in central Baghdad. Unfortunately, that was not an unusually violent day. In the past month, the rebels, demonstrating increasing daring and sophistication, have killed more than 700 people in the Iraqi capital.

Mr. Cheney's response, in a CNN interview, was to insist again that the insurgency faces defeat and that its attacks reflect its desperation.

Such wishful insistence poses at least two perils.

One is that if the administration believes that the present course is leading to imminent victory, it won't take necessary steps, such as: increasing pressure to make quick progress toward a new Iraqi constitution and elections; improving recruitment and performance of Iraqi security forces, and sealing the porous border between Iraq and Syria.

Another is that if the American people decide that their elected leaders cannot face or tell the truth, they are likely to become more pessimistic than even the current challenges warrant. That could lead to disastrous political pressure to withdraw U.S. forces prematurely.