I think he realizes all he needs to realize. What he needs to do is end a war in a defeat. To do that he has to engineer a defeat. Iraq is already, in the public mind at least, in the win column. So how do we engineer a defeat?

1) Reinforce, but only lightly.
2) Tighten the Rules of Engagement.
3) Set “goals” and a “timetable” going in. Make sure the goals cannot be achieved with the resources available in the time allowed.
4) Alienate the powers that control the supply routes. Make protecting logistics consume most of the “reinforcements.”
5) If land supply routes go down, make a valiant “Kennedyesque” resupply “effort” with an airlift for a short period.
5) When goals are not met and airlift fails announce that you’ve given it the old college try and must regretfully withdraw.
6) Make sure you withdraw using plenty of airpower, with lots of large helicopters at the end taking off from Kabul.
7) Announce at around the same time that your soft diplomacy has born fruit in Iran and that Hans Blix and the Mullahs have agreed to UN-type inspections of 20 square blocks of downtown Tehran.
Mission accomplished.