‘Osama bin Laden Captured,’ and Other Headlines Not Seen in 2006

"Osama bin Laden Captured" is a headline that wasn't written in 2006: the same with "Zawahiri Caught," a reference to al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. A year is the sum total of its failures, as well as its successes; and before going too far into January, it might be sobering to take a quick backward glance at what didn't happen last year.

Iraq, of course, offers dozens of unfulfilled hopes and expectations. The Bush administration likes to boast of its role in bringing free elections to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. But free elections, it turns out, don't guarantee democracy. To get there requires a capacity to govern, a vibrant society, and strong institutions -- all things missing either in whole or in part in those three places.

For the Bush administration, words like "victory" and "success" became inoperative last year. The Baker-Hamilton study came and went, leaving, in the final analysis, little positive residue. On Jan 8, the president will make his new Iraq strategy known to the nation, but it is not expected to include specifics about bringing the boys home any time soon. On the contrary, the word in Washington is that Bush will announce an increase of the U.S. military presence.