Well according to both GW and Rumsfeld all the theater commanders have to do is ask. Believe me I don't want to see casualties and I was a bit disappointed in how Falujia turned out but it was the ground commander that made the call. Look, this is probably the biggest gamble any American president has ever taken and none of us, even GW at this point, knows the outcome. His plan relies solely on his faith in the Iraqi people and I don't know that I would have that kind of faith in our OWN people nowadays.
You know what I think is going to be a really moving, and important upcoming event? The appearance of the Iraqi National Soccer team at the Summer Olympics. That story was ignored by the venal press, but that is a tearjerker that is going to MOVE the American people.
When those guys walk into the Olympic Stadium as free Iraqis ... the contrast of their triumph against Uday's torture of Iraqi Olympic athletes just three years before will be an indelible and seminal image.
It's going to be a big symbolic boost to the understanding of what we've accomplished in that country and for that people.