Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Bush predicts more allied troops in Iraq

Bush said his administration is working with the United Nations to encourage allies to help bring peace to the country. "There will be more foreign troops in Iraq," he said.

Well, I suppose Americans have always preferred their presidents to be optimistic. And talk about optimism in the face of adversity:

Coalition forces in Iraq begin to be deserted by their allies

Mr Straw faces an uphill struggle to convince more countries to take part in coalition-led operations, and the creation of a UN force of "blue helmets" has already been ruled out by both the Americans and the UN.

Poland, which is to take military control of Iraq's central sector, signalled yesterday that it was handing back some territory to US troops, because of the heightened security risk after the bombing of UN headquarters. In Spain, opposition parties called for the withdrawal of the 1,300 troops committed to Iraq for peacekeeping operations, after the death of a naval officer in the attack.

Japanese Rethink on Iraq

Japan is considering reneging on its commitment to send troops to Iraq to assist in the aftermath of the war. The terrorist focus on soft targets, including the bombing of the UN offices in Baghdad on Tuesday, has led Japan to rethink its commitment of military personnel, while the US is looking for more international forces in Iraq. Japanese official sources said the lack of security in Iraq left a question mark over whether troops would be sent. If they were, it would be next year at the earliest, rather than the anticipated deployment in October.

At some point, though, optimism becomes self-delusi-- Hey look! here come some foreign troops!

Postwar Iraq has become magnet for terrorists

Although the United Nations has pledged to remain in the country, it has pulled out a third of its staff, and other organizations are reassessing their presence. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, whose loans will be essential to rebuilding Iraq's economy, withdrew their personnel this week.

Terrorists find Iraq an easy place to operate. It's a giant ammunition dump, filled with discarded and deadly explosives that are easy pickings for would-be bomb-makers. Saddam spent years building up his weapons arsenal. As the war wound down in April, many Iraqi soldiers just abandoned their guns and ammunition and walked away.

In a country the size of California, no number of soldiers can protect every hospital, hotel, bridge, electrical station, water and oil pipeline, especially from determined suicide attackers. Even if more troops could make a difference, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has refused to send them. Efforts to bring in more international troops have stumbled over the Bush administration's unwillingness to cede control to the United Nations.