Iraq Cut and Run?

May of us have thought that the US will begin pulling out of Iraq in the next few months. There are two reasons why the Bush administration would do this. The first is political; the war is already unpopular, becoming more so daily and there are mid term elections in a little over a year. The second is logistical; within the next year the US is simply going to run out of bodies.

We read in The Washington Post today that:

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and the top U.S. commander in Iraq Wednesday and discussed specific steps to speed preparations for the withdrawal of some of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq beginning as early as next spring.

The tone of statements by Rumsfeld and Jafari, as well as the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, suggested a heightened urgency to planning for the U.S. troop reduction, despite the continuation of lethal daily attacks by insurgents in Iraq.

Jim Lobe tells us:

Growing pessimism about averting civil war in Iraq, as well as mounting concerns that the U.S. military presence there may itself be fueling the insurgency and Islamist extremism worldwide, has spurred a spate of new calls for the United States to withdraw its 140,000 troops sooner rather than later.

Although resolutions to establish at least a timeline for withdrawal have so far gained the support of only about a quarter of the members of Congress, the absence of tangible progress in turning back the insurgency is adding to fears on Capitol Hill that the administration's hopes of stabilizing the situation, let alone giving birth to a pro-Western democracy in the heart of the Arab world, are delusory.

Many are now saying that remaining in Iraq is not the best option.

Thus, on July 15, former Central Intelligence Agency director John Deutch published a column in the Times calling for a "prompt withdrawal plan," with the initial drawdown set to coincide with the Iraqi elections scheduled for Dec. 15, that would include a timetable for reducing the scope of military operations, while maintaining a "regional quick-reaction force" in reserve, as well as ongoing intelligence and training programs.

At the same time, the U.S. would urge the Iraqi government and its neighbors to recognize their common interest in Baghdad's peaceful evolution without external intervention and commit itself to an economic assistance program to Iraq "so long as it stays on a peaceful path" and to the wider region that will encourage cooperation.