Hard Work Unable to Compensate for "Unreality" in Iraq As Bush Analogy Runs Wild

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

Despite these admissions, President Bush himself sent shockwaves through the media by remaining confident in his administration's accomplishments in Iraq:

"Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed," President Bush said yesterday in his radio address.

Bush then added, "We shot for the stars, that's all. And when you shoot for the stars, sometimes they shoot back, and sometimes they separate into groups of stars with different ethnicities and religious backgrounds, and sometimes some of the stars want to establish an Islamic theocracy and maybe ally with Iran, and sometimes the stars start a civil war amongst themselves. We knew these were risks. We knew that. But that wasn't going to stop us from shooting for the stars. Shooting for the stars is hard work, and I am confident that all the stars in Iraq will thank us for their liberty once we leave them to shoot for themselves."