According to statistics and and information provided by the Bush Administration and the Pentagon, the U.S. should be fully withdrawn from Iraq by October 21, 2006.
President Bush refuses to say when we will withdraw, saying timelines will only aid our enemies. His own Administration, however, has announced this with statements and data it has released.
With our new strategy of "vietnamization," oops, I meant Iraqization, turning over security and fighting to Iraqi police and military forces, the Bush Administration has stated that 270,000 trained forces are necessary before we can fully withdraw.
Accoding to the Pentagon (http://www.defendamerica.mil/) we now have 173,900 trained troops and police in Iraq, as of July 27th. Last March official statistics said we had 145,000 Iraqi troops trained and equipped.
(http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/03/iraq_training_metrics.html)
Now, we all know the Bush Administration would never lie to the American people about such important and critical matters concerning war and peace, don't we? After all, these are our sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, parents, and neighbors we're talking about bringing home from harm's way. I'm sure we can trust the figures being put forth by our leaders.
American forces are training Iraqi forces at the rate of 1500/week, according to the above numbers and this New York Times article (http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2005/0613years.htm).
Since the goal is 270,000 Iraqi troops trained before we can fully withdraw, and training proceeding at the rate of 1500/week, simple math tells us we need 64 additional weeks from July 27, 2005 to reach that goal. That brings us, approximately, to October 21, 2006.
Now we know when we will be fully withdrawn from Iraq and our latest national nightmare will cease to be.
I trust my government with the lives of our soldiers, and I know they would NEVER lie to us about a matter of such importance.
(All written with tongue firmly planted in my cheek)