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The author has both feet planted squarely on planet Earth and he has got it exactly right-but for the wrong reasons.

The drawdown will begin after these elections and will continue to accelerate until our own that midterm elections next November. This has long been planned. The drawdown after the December 15 elections in Iraq cannot be used to signal a change in strategy in Iraq because they had long been planned. But the overall idea of substituting Iraqi forces for American forces has long been the objective of American military planners. When that occurs, the American presence will be limited to air power, special ops and intelligence with Iraqi boots on the ground .

The Iraqis will absorb the bulk of the casualties and the Americans will exert a huge amount of control over the war as we will fund it, provide intelligence, and the air power and other equipment which is absolutely essential. So long as the governing class in Iraq needs these American assets, we will be able to stay in Iraq with ever decreasing casualty levels.

If Bush chooses not to follow this course, the author is perfectly correct when he says the politics will force him out of Iraq. Senators like Hegel on the Republican side will give the Democrats cover and the momentum will increase against the war. To the degree that Bush feels frustrated by the state of affairs, he should look in the mirror because it's his own passivity over the past few months which has undercut his ability to wage war in Iraq.

And, as I posted here often before the last election which Bush so narrowly won, the mainstream media had nearly succeeded in convincing the American people that a level of 1200 fatalities was an insupportable burden for a nation of 300 million. After the election, Bush dropped the cudgels and left the field to the media and the Democrats and now his ability to conduct foreign policy has withered.

The Democrats know this is the plan and they are trying to convert a successful "Irakization" of the war into an ignominious "bug-out" for shameless political advantage.

" The drawdown after the December 15 elections in Iraq cannot be used to signal a change in strategy in Iraq because they had long been planned. ... The Democrats know this is the plan and they are trying to convert a successful "Irakization" of the war into an ignominious "bug-out" for shameless political advantage."

I agree they will try to take "shameless political advantage", but only for the troop drawdown, not a "bug out".

I think the "Murtha Offensive" was a TET Offensive type move by the Dems and their MSM allies. But in 2005, the MSM no longer comes close to holding the position of respect it held in 1968, and now we have the internet as a counter-weight to their lies and left-wing propaganda. Their present day Cronkites have been exposed for the biased, left-wing liars they are. And, not to be minimized, we have the TET offensive as an example of what the MSM did and what not to do again. The unexpected forcing of a vote with a 403-3 result was the knockdown counter-punch that ends any realistic possibility of a "bug out". And the Dems, if not the MSM, know it. As long as there is continued growth of the Iraqi military, progress in democratization, and the absence of huge inflow of foreign fighters to Iraq, the 403-3 vote defeats the "bug out" crowd. It was THAT BIG! It is just that most people don't think about it that way because the MSM doesn't want you to think that way. It was an important, "turning point" vote, minimized (even now) by the MSM, who, along with their Dem buddies are ashamed at being caught by the surprise counter-punch.

At this point, the only thing the Dems and their MSM buddies will do is keep talking about pulling troops out, which they know is going to happen anyway. And they will talk about how all the "pressure for a troop drawdown" is getting to Bush, and how his poll numbers going lower. And how Bush will be forced to react. Then, when the drawdowns happen, they will try to take credit for it. They, and their MSM buddies, will shamelessy lie, for political advantage, and say they forced Bush to do it. We all know that is coming, don't we? The MSM media knows it too. But they will not discuss the Dem plan, because they are the propaganda arm of the Dems.

The Democrats know this is the plan and they are trying to convert a successful "Irakization" of the war into an ignominious "bug-out" for shameless political advantage.

Precisely. The Democrats and their willing allies in the press are declaring "Defeat" and no amount of winning will change their minds.

Iraq could emerge as a shining example of economic and personal liberties...and the Democrats would claim it represents "another defeat for America".