McGrath, the last line of my post just prior to yours was what I was referring back to in terms of getting an international force that includes Arabs into Iraq. As to the scenario you are presenting, I just don't see that as likely.

The US won't be able to continue going it alone in Iraq, and I'm convinced they won't. They've pretty much cut Blair out of the decision making altogether, which is also working against Bush. But the pressure to bring in an international presence to support the transition to Iraqi self-rule is becoming louder by the day. Bush isn't going to be able to wait it out until after the election. He is going to be forced to go back to the UN, and make concessions to them, in order to transfer power. If he attempts to transfer power on June 30 and it goes badly, the outcry in the US will become deafening.

Politically it would be much more advantageous for him to get the UN involved sooner rather than later, because it leaves more time and breathing room to turn things around in Iraq before the fall US election season gets going. He just can't afford to have a long, hot, violent and volative summer go down in Iraq, with a Democratic national convention in Kerry's hometown in the middle of it. That just won't happen. The Bush administration is either going to send in many, many more American troops and get Britain to do the same, or it will bring in the UN or NATO t quell the uprisings.