We just don't know.
That is the truth of it.
No one -- not me, not you, not Congress, not nobody -- knows why the President wants to stay in Iraq.
When do we leave Iraq?
When:
* WMDs are found?
* We get rid of Saddam Hussein?
* Iraq is sovereign?
* After the Iraqi elections?
* After we find al-Zarqawi?
Somebody please tell me ...
Because our exit criteria keeps changing.
Recently, George Bush began to say that we won't leave Iraq until we win. Win what?
How will we know when we've won this conflict?
When civil strife has ended in Iraq? Tough luck on that one, because our presence was the factor that ignited the civil strife. It seems very unlikely now that it's going to stop until we leave.
I DEFY ANYONE READING DAILY KOS RIGHT NOW TO TELL ME WHAT THE VICTORY CONDITION IS IN THE IRAQ WAR.
And now, yesterday, Bush says that the troops will stay as long as he is president.
Why?
What does he think this will accomplish?
(Crickets.)
Does anybody know?
My guess is that no one knows why American troops will stay in Iraq until the end of Bush's presidency. Maybe "Dick" Cheney knows. But maybe not.
Do any of you know?