Ahhh, innuendos...but seriously...
The
Calpundit and
Josh Marshall discuss current rumors that Bush might be planning to pull his prancing keister out of the fire that is Iraq. Such a move would, of course, be politically motivated, and would wholly depend upon the way in which public opinion swings, these next few months. If the casualties keep mounting, as they have been wont to do, it's unlikely that we're going to see any upswing in the public's opinion of how Bush is handling the war. Iraq, already becoming a liability for Bush, would swiftly become his albatross, so it would only stand to reason that a President so obsessed with hammering through his larger agenda would pull out of Iraq. My prediction is that Bush would then try to again railroad the UN into taking action, this time to fill the void.
I've never been for this war. However, I'm not for pulling out of Iraq before things are better off than they were. The Dominio theory of Communism never took shape, largely, I believe, because there was no socio-political legitimacy for Communism in the countries America feared would teeter and fall. There is, on the other hand, a long-standing cultural draw towards radical Islam, in Iraq. In this case, should America leave before stability is restored, then we'll have created the very kind of breeding ground for terror that we claimed to be wiping out, through our invasion.
I fear such an event coming to pass. If it does, though, it'll be interesting to listen to how the dittoheads spin things, given that they've accused liberals of wanting to leave before the job was done. Another prediction: they'll point at liberals and say, "We always said that once we were victorious we'd restore Iraq to the Iraqis. Now that America has emerged victorious, the liberals are showing just how un-patriotic they are by not celebrating. Furthermore, it's obvious that they, in their partisanship, want to keep Iraq to themselves! Make up your mind, liberals. You didn't want us to go to war, but now that the war's over, you want us to stay? What gives?"