Bush vs. Allawi vs. Rumsfeld

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill:

A Pentagon-appointed panel of outside experts has concluded in a new study that the American military does not have sufficient forces to sustain current and anticipated stability operations, like the festering conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and other missions that might arise.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also spoke openly for the first time on Thursday about the possibility that the elections might be held only in parts of Iraq.

“Let’s say you tried to have an election, and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country, but some places you couldn’t because the violence was too great,” Mr. Rumsfeld said at a hearing on Capitol Hill. “Well, that’s so be it. Nothing’s perfect in life.”