They've had enough

It looks like two of Bush's "coalition" members in Iraq are cutting bait, figuring out that there's no longer any sense in sending more blood down the drain.

Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops.

Bulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops by mid-December. If Australia, Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland and South Korea reduce or recall their personnel, more than half of the non-American forces in Iraq could be gone by next summer.

Hrmmm... Bulgaria and Ukraine are leaving. That should reduce the total number of troops from 150,000 to 149, 912. The "terrorists" are probably celebrating already. (Not.) Seriously, though, if the rest of the countries on the list above pull out, it will bring in a serious gap. Now, here's the question... these are governments who have been muscled into this war by Washington and felt that the benefit of staying in Bush's good graces was great enough to stick it out through thick and thin up until now. So why the sudden departures?

Do you suppose that this was all authorized ahead of time by Rumsfeld and company as part of the pullout we're supposedly not engaging in? Or could it be that pressure from their citizens back home to abandon this folly has finally grown great enough that they caved? We may never know.