U.S. troops will remain in Iraq after an interim government is installed there, President… U.S. troops will remain in Iraq after an interim government is installed there, President George W. Bush said Monday.

The plan is to implement an Iraqi-run governing body by July, but Bush won’t say if this is part of an exit strategy, or if any exit strategy is in the works.

More than 400 American troops have died so far in the current Iraq conflict. Eighty-seven billion dollars have been earmarked for a vague and nebulous rebuilding plan. Violence and bombings are a part of daily life in Iraq.

Whether invading Iraq was a good idea or not is irrelevant now. Troops went in and knocked down the system – the terrible system – that was in place. To leave now, without putting into practice a workable system of governance, would be an arrogant, thuggish disaster. Some other bloodthirsty dictator would emerge from the chaos, and the country would be back where it started. The United States, like it or not, currently has a responsibility to the Iraqi people.

Right now, troops need to be there. But at some point, they need to come home. With no demarcated plan for the $87 billion, no proposal for how the interim government will be run, and no exit strategy in sight, the United States’ occupation of Iraq is foundering. We appear to be without a plan, and without any idea of when or how our formless occupation will end.

Setting up an interim government and sticking around for a while to see that it’s carried out is our responsibility. But what steps is the Bush administration taking? What are the plans between now and July, and what are the plans for after that?

In a corporate setting, such a lack of transparency would be decried and would not be allowed. No investor would sink billions into a business plan that wasn’t clear and up for examination, which is as it should be. No student would accept a professor without a syllabus. Why should we accept such a situation when lives – not to mention money – are on the line?

The American people are footing the bill for this entire operation. We deserve to know how our money is being spent, and when our brave men and women will be coming home.

By keeping obstinately tight-lipped, Bush is setting the stage for Campaign 2004 to be a battleground – and he’s setting the stakes against himself.