Whoever the DP candidate is, he (or she) is _not_ going to pull the troops out of Iraq. And as long as the troops are there, the present policy is still in place.
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Quite right.
The occupation of Iraq, regardless of how well or poorly it goes, is a nanobot's width away from becoming one of those things that's tied up with national pride and therefore acquires, in the way it's perceived, escape velocity from 'ground truth'.
The longer American soldiers are there and the more that die, the more difficult it will be for any American President to sit behind the desk in the oval office, look appropriately grim yet hopeful and declare on world video the whole thing to have been a big 'mistake' (the sharpest word allowable).
Each July 4th that passes with troops still 'in-country', will be an occasion to renew our support and show our resolve. This emotion transcends left or right or centrist leanings.
For some reason I can't put my finger on, I believe that Dick Cheney lives in the real world and will move to cut his personal losses (Bechtel, etc) if resistance makes it too damn difficult to extract the hoped for bounty.
Others however, (perhaps Wolfowitz) may have read one Robert Kaplan essay too many and, woozy from their fevered dreams of neo-Rome, will exert counter-pressure to any movement to 'bring the boys and girls home'.
Something along the lines of Tet would certainly shake everyone to the marrow and increase the volume of the 'bring em home' shouts. But even after Tet it took many years for Americans to really leave Vietnam.
Short of a totally unexpected offensive (rumored by some to be in the works by Saddam ) we’ll just soldier along, whistling Christina Aquilera tunes while hoping for the best.
And then, one hazy day, it'll all fall apart - after which is when the true fun will begin.
DRM
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