Via Attackerman, if you believe The Wall Street Journal, the Bush administration is readying to agree to a timeline that would have American troops pulling out of Iraqi cities by next Summer and the country by 2011. If you believe The New York Times, they're doing nothing of the kind. But the confusion just underscores how narrow the reality of our strategy in Iraq is becoming: A sharp withdrawal within the next three-to-four years in highly likely, and whether it's McCain or Obama quarterbacking, large groups of people leave large landmasses in some sort of schedule, which can also be called a "timetable." In a way, the argument between those who favor a "timetable for withdrawal" (which would always be conditions-based) and those who favor "conditions-based withdrawal" (which would always have a timetable) are really arguing not about whether we'll leave, but our attitude towards leaving. Democrats say we should leave. Republicans say we should leave, but not act so eager about it, because doing so makes leaving look like retreat. Five years after the invasion of Iraq, we've devolved into arguing about the aesthetics of withdrawal.
