While closed door negotiations on the Iraq war funding has failed to open any meaningful conclusions there appears to be some consensus on one major issue.  Congress and the administration want to put the onus on the Iraqi government.

Although it appears that Josh Bolten will likely negotiate for the administration with Congress next week, there is very little that the congressional leaders can do given the fact that their own poll rankings are currently as low as that of the poll ratings of President Bush.  Confusing matters even more, although the majority of Americans want the war to end, they do not want the funding of the troops to stop, which puts President Bush in a controlling position.

However, it is very clear that President Bush is willing to shift the responsibility to the Iraqi government and its people regarding their own political successes which milestones could implicate the future operations of the war.

Last week the House of Representatives passed legislation that would place the Iraq War funding on an installment basis, however, the U.S. Senate does not appear to have the necessary support to duplicate the House effort.  The current lack of Senate support is similar to failed Senate resolutions from early this year which resolutions previously had passed the House but not the Senate.

In negotiations with the administration, the Bush administration also put the end to waving of the timelines for withdrawal as a provision within future legislation.  "The Democratic leaders did talk about having timelines for withdrawal that might be waivable," said Bolten. "We consider that to be not a significant distinction. Whether waivable or not, timelines send exactly the wrong signal to our adversaries, to our allies, and most importantly to the troops in the field."