Today's daily Presseschau review of what German newspapers are saying on the German state radio program Deutschlandfunk was about reactions to the new Bush plan to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq.

Most all the major German newspapers seem to think that Bush's "new" plan – based not on the Baker Report, but on the so-called "Victory Plan" by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, is a bad idea. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung is calling it a "Frechheit" and a "comfortable" option, to just stick to the same failed strategy, against the opinion of the American population and against the best advice available, knowing that he cannot run for a third term anyway, and leave the shame of defeat to the next president. Die Welt calls the plan "extremely dangerous." The Tageszeitung (TAZ) and Frankfurter Rundschau are similarly skeptical. The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung argues that many parts of Iraq would become the "prey" (Beute) of violent groups if the Americans withdrew. These remarks are couched in the reminder, however, that it was a mistake to not commit more troops from the very beginning. The Financial Times Deutschland calls the plan the "least bad" of Bush's many options, but "too little too late."

Actually, the Sueddeutsche cannot be right. If this were more about saving face and simply postponing defeat until after a new president assumes office, that would imply that Bush is avoiding responsibility for his actions. That would, of course, be an abrogation of conservative values, which put such emphasis on personal responsibility. A conservative president would never do that.