Yesterday the 900th American soldier died in Iraq, the 762nd since our Mission was Accomplished over a year ago.  Never let it be said that George W. Bush doesn't know how to pick his moments, because he chose yesterday to announce that he wishes to be remembered as the "peace president."

According to Bush's address to a re-election rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, "Nobody wants to be the war president."  An interesting statement, made more interesting by the fact that it is coming from a man who, on February 7th of this year, told NBC's Meet the Press that "I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind."

Bush may have been jumping the gun (again) when he promised that "the next four years will be peaceful years," since that would require that American military presence in Iraq be completely absent within 4 months.  Not even the most optimistic of strategists has proposed such a goal, leading one to wonder if perhaps Bush needs to don his flight suit again to win support for his theory that "peace" often involves American soldiers dying in combat.