Troop withdrawal from Iraq

What we all want

Spurred by a clear message from voters, key Democrats are indeed using their new-found power to push an agenda of troop withdrawal from Iraq. It's a tough sell to the pigheads in the White House, of course. And there is absolutely no admission from anyone of what the war really is--a neocolonial project. But I do see a ray of hope.

Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the presumptive incoming Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee gave the Sunday bobblehead audience the meatiest quotes, as reported along with follow-up comments in the New York Times:

``We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months,'' Mr. Levin said in an appearance on the ABC News program ``This Week.'' In a telephone interview later, Mr. Levin added, ``The point of this is to signal to the Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over and that they are going to have to solve their own problems.... ``The people have spoken in a very, very strong way that they don'’t buy the administration policy.''

Josh Bolton from the White House seemed slightly less dismissive than you might expect, now siganling a willingness to accept ``fresh ideas''. They're still allergic to a timetable. But the James Baker Iraq Study Group and other recently-empowered old guard realist adults from the Daddy Bush years, including creepy Pentagon designate Robert Gates, are expected to come up with a way to turn the war we started over to the Iraqis.

A theme is emerging from the Democrats, Republicans, and corporate media commentators in their talk of ``commitment'' being thrust upon the Iraqis. Here's another example from the CNN This Week at War show today:

JOHN ROBERTS: And Barbara Starr, without a firm commitment from the Iraqi government to move forward in a unified way, can the U.S. military hope to prevail here?

STARR: Oh, absolutely not, John, because right now given the election results, it's all about bringing the troops home. That is, you know, before the election it was Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Now it's bring the troops home. That's what the Democrats want. And the way to make that happen is to get the Iraqi government to sign up to cracking down on the militias, turning over the provinces where there isn't so much violence to Iraqi controlled under some sort of deadline process. And really, as they say, holding their feet to the fire. That's the way to reduce the need for more U.S. troops many commanders believe and that's the option that they want to pursue.

This is code for realization of the fact that the US has gotten its butt kicked in Iraq, and now that the Democrats have won something, the Administration is going to figure out a way to pin the loss on them.