Who's influencing US policy in Iraq?

From Bush's speech to the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday:

In a letter to the terrorist leader Zarqawi, the Al Qaida leader Zawahiri has outlined his goals in Iraq with these steps, quote: "expel the Americans from Iraq, establish as Islamic authority over as much territory as you can to spread its power in Iraq, extend the jihad wave."

The terrorists hope America will withdraw before the job is done, so they can take over the country and turn it into a base for future attacks.

Zawahiri called the Vietnam War as a reason to believe the terrorists can prevail. He wrote, quote, "The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam and how they ran and left their agents is noteworthy."

In the past, Al Qaida has said that American pullouts from Lebanon and Somalia showed them that America was weak and could be made to run.

BUSH: And now the terrorists think they can make America run in Iraq, and that is not going to happen so long as I'm the commander in chief.

As I heard George Packer say yesterday during an appearance on the Brian Lehrer show, it would be nice if Zawahiri and other "al Qaeda leaders" weren't formulating U.S. policy for the Cheney administration.