IS THERE A PLAN B FOR IRAQ?

The WaPo reports that there isn't:

No U.S. Backup Strategy For Iraq
Outside Experts, Not White House, Discuss Options
By Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, March 5, 2007; Page A01

During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work?

The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. "I'm a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."


The LA Times has a different story:

(Via ThinkProgress)

Fallback strategy for Iraq: Train locals, draw down forces
If the current 'surge' fails, planners suggest relying on advisors as the U.S. did in El Salvador in the 1980s.
By Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel, Times Staff Writers
March 12, 2007

WASHINGTON — American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq that includes a gradual withdrawal of forces and a renewed emphasis on training Iraqi fighters in case the current troop buildup fails or is derailed by Congress.

Such a strategy, based in part on the U.S. experience in El Salvador in the 1980s, is still in the early planning stages and would be adjusted to fit the outcome of the current surge in troop levels, according to military officials and Pentagon consultants who spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing future plans.