Every day in every way, Iraq is getting grimmer and grimmer and grimmer. Gone are the upbeat appraisals and the assurances that we are making steady progress. Now, the most Bush can now say is, “If you think it’s bad now, imagine what Iraq would look like if the United States leaves before this government can defend itself.” This perceptive article notes the change in language and tone that signal a marked change in the way BushCo is framing our misadventure in Iraq.

Of all the words that President Bush used at his news conference this week to defend his policies in Iraq, the one that did not pass his lips was “progress.”

For three years, the president tried to reassure Americans that more progress was being made in Iraq than they realized. But with Iraq either in civil war or on the brink of it, Bush dropped the unseen-progress argument in favor of the contention that things could be even worse.

The shifting rhetoric reflected a broader pessimism that has reached into even some of the most optimistic corners of the administration — a sense that the Iraq venture has taken a dark turn and will not be resolved anytime soon. Bush advisers once believed that if they met certain benchmarks, such as building a constitutional democracy and training a new Iraqi army, the war would be won. Now they believe they have more or less met those goals, yet the war rages on.

And then the article gets really depressing. Our mission is no longer to create a beacon of democracy or to save us from non-existent WMDs – it’s to keep Iraq from descending into an out-and-out bloodbath. If we can just do that, maybe we can exit with at least a bit of face. That’s the most our “victory” will consist of.

How our goals have shifted, and how painful a disappointment this war is on every conceivable level. We will be lamenting it for generations, always referring to it with some confusion, some shame, some bewilderment, uncertain as to why we were ever there, and why we remained so long after it was clear we could not win. Kind of like that other war…