With an election on the horizon and partisan politics in full gear, all eyes are on the continuing instability in Iraq. And dissatisfaction has been expressed from more than one quarter.

Even President Bush has stopped using the term "stay the course" to describe U.S. military strategy in Iraq. Apparently, advisors urged him to alter his wording, not wanting him to seem inflexible. He’s also warned that, "American patience has its limits." Yet despite these concessions, the president remains a stalwart voice amongst all the handwringers, which, in a time of war, is what people need from a leader.

Nonetheless, the Iraqi government and in some respects the new Iraqi army appear to be faltering. Undoubtedly, all the talk about U.S. troop withdrawal has not helped. Meanwhile, sectarian violence, while certainly not on the level of the civil war being alleged by critics, is in fact leaving Shiites, Sunnis and Christians at the mercy of terrorists and thugs.

All of this leads many at home to wonder, not whether America can win the war militarily, but whether the Iraqis and by extension, the Muslim world, can rise to the occasion. The democracy project is starting to feel just a tad overly optimistic.

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