Hyperbole

On Monday President Bush made a much ballyhooed comment on the "Today" show to Matt Lauer in reference to the war on terror, "I don't think you can win it, but I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."
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The Democrats (I believe it started with John Edwards) immediately seized on this and panned Bush for "admitting defeat". I think this entirely misses the point.

I think that in this comment Mr. Bush is showing the cards in his hand -- not cards which were dealt to him, but cards he has chosen for himself. I think that this slip (and clearly the insane spinning by the Republicans which followed it marks this as a slip) is a tacit admission of the real agenda -- war without end.

President Bush is a war president and only through fear of terror, threat, and destruction can he maintain his hold on power. But it's deeper than that. Only through control of the world's energy resources can American hold on to the hegemony its leaders so desperately want to maintain, but the only path to that control leads to more war.

No, I don't think the President was expressing defeat, or a lack of confidence that we will "beat" the terrorists and "dig them out of their holes." I think he's saying that we're right where he and his ilk want us to be: war without end.