One of the big reasons Iraq is al-FUBAR is that so many choices were made with political considerations outweighting operational imperatives. Kevin Drumm is no Flaming Leftie:

[The upcoming] election, and the political considerations that go along with it, have been driving our military strategy for the past two years. Before the war, we passed up a chance to take out terrorist mastermind Abu Musab Zarqawi -- for political reasons. We invaded with too few troops -- for political reasons. We lowballed the cost of the war -- for political reasons. We ignored the UN and then turned around and pleaded for their help -- for political reasons. Then we installed Iyad Allawi as president behind the UN's back -- for political reasons.

He's got links for all those things too. The most devistating part is the closer though:

Thursday's press conference was just scary. It's no longer clear if George Bush is merely a cynical, calculating politician — which would be bad enough — or if he actually believes all the happy talk about Iraq that his speechwriters produce for him. Increasingly, though, it seems like the latter: he genuinely doesn't have a clue about what's going on. What's more, his staff is keeping him in a sort of Nixonian bubble, afraid to tell him the truth and afraid to take any positive action for fear that it might affect the election.

As I said before (and I'll say again, it's my new "message"), working to unseat this administration is possibly the most noble effort anyone of you can undertake in the next five weeks. There are lots of ways to participate. Find one that lets you be who you are and use your skills and do it.