Via The Washington Post:

The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday offered a stark assessment of the situation in Iraq after a trip there this week, saying that parts of the country have taken "steps backwards" and that the United States is at risk of losing the campaign to control an increasingly violent Baghdad.

My emphasis added.  This is nothing we haven't been screaming about over here for as long as I can remember.  But the fact that Warner, highly regarded on issues military, is making such statements publicly does not bode well for the President's increasingly ineffective efforts to encourage the public to "stay the course".

The article continues:

"I assure you, in two or three months, if this thing hasn't come to fruition and if this level of violence is not under control and this government able to function, I think it's a responsibility of our government internally to determine: Is there a change of course that we should take?" Warner said. "And I wouldn't take off the table any option at this time."

He doesn't say it explicitly, but one of the options has certainly been to begin removing active US troop presence from the region and redeploy these troops in an assistive role only.

And finally, this:

Warner blamed the Iraqi leaders for failing to improve conditions. "You do not see them taking the levers of sovereignty and pulling and pushing them and doing what is necessary to bring about a situation in Iraq whereby the people are able to live, have sufficient food and fresh water, and have a sense of confidence in their government that they're going forward," Warner said.

But he said the situation is not beyond repair. "We're not going to give up hope yet. Let's give it more time to work."

Warner acknowledged that, before the invasion of Iraq, there was a lack of understanding among members of Congress about how much it would take to give Iraq full sovereignty. He blamed himself for not aggressively asking such questions before the war.

He's certainly not adding to his statements the things we want him to say - that the lack of planning and the dismal, unprofessional conduct of the war is also to blame - but he's cleared himself a path, in a reasonably short timeframe, to call for withdrawal and he's laid faint groundwork on the subject of underestimateing the level of effort required to provide sovereignty to Iraq.

Now - this may be a larger distancing by Warner from Bush, but bear in mind - he's not up for re-election this year.  I believe at least part of his statements come from his true convictions that things are much worse there than anyone in the administration is willing to admit.

He doesn't address the administration's upbeat assessment of Iraq, but his statements roundly contradict the White House's rhetoric.

This is a good thing.