U.K. Memo on Troop Withdrawl
The blogosphere will chatter on about the implications of the recently leaked U.K. memo outlining a significant withdrawal of British and American troops by 2006. And, to be sure, the memo raises many questions: Is Bush grubbing for higher approval ratings? Are the insurgents marking the date in their Outlook calendars? How do we define a "stable" Iraqi government? And, perhaps most puzzling: Why can't the Brits keep their "confidential" memos out of the fucking press?
The coverage of the memo does bring one mostly positive bit of information to light. Asked about the timetable for troop recall, a Pentagon spokesperson said that "[O]ur drawdown and eventual withdrawal is based on a conditions-based strategy." That would be opposed to theinvasionof Iraq, which was based on a wishful-thinking-based strategy.
Secret plan to quit Iraq [Mail on Sunday]