In a scathing criticism of the failed war in Iraq, conservative columnist George Will accuses the bush administration of ignoring history by seeking to mold a Middle East nation in its own image. After pointing out all the times similar ventures have failed — and they always have — Will closes with a grim look at the next stage of Rumsfeld’s folly.

But in a New York Times story from Najaf, readers learn, regarding the problem of Moqtada Sadr and his militia, that a Marine spokesman says, “We’ll continue operations as the prime minister [Ayad Allawi] sees fit.” And readers learn that U.S. commanders “curbed a broader national amnesty proposal announced by Dr. Allawi earlier this week, limiting its terms to exclude any rebels who have taken part in actions killing or wounding American troops.”

So does sovereignty reside with the prime minister whose will evidently commands U.S. commanders? Or with those commanders who curb the prime minister’s will?

A house so divided cannot stand. If it is the prime minister’s will, or that of Iraq’s embryonic democratic institutions, to conduct with insurgent factions negotiations that strip the Iraqi state of an essential attribute of statehood — a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of violence — the U.S. presence will become untenable.

Untenable even before what may be coming before November: an Iraqi version of the North Vietnamese Tet offensive of 1968. To say that the coming offensive will be by “Baathists” is, according to one administration official, akin to saying “Nazis” when you mean “the SS” — the most fearsome of the Nazis. Such an offensive could make Sadr’s insurgency seem a minor irritant. And it could unmake a presidency, as Tet did.

Please bear in mind, this isn’t Paul Krugman talking, it’s Republican George Will. He is saying that bush is now in direct danger of losing the election because of the collapse of Iraq into near anarchy. And he’s saying al Sadr may be just a gnat compared to the next phase of our occupation.

Anyone listening? Are we really going to let our stupid little president keep us bleeding forever? Can we really pulverize the Iraqis into loving us?