Staying in Iraq

Kevin Drum thinks that the only thing left to do in Iraq is to withdraw immediately and that candidates should be saying this.

While opinion poll after opinion poll tells us that the country thinks that Bush should leave immediately, I don't think we can be certain that they will say the same thing under the next President.

Today we have a President that refuses to acknowledge that he intentionally misled the country when he made the case for war, that Iraq is now in a state of civil war and that most of the Iraqis would have the US leave. It is abundantly clear that the real goals that the Bush administration is pursuing in Iraq require a permanent occupation.

Faced with monumental deception from the administration, withdrawal at the earliest opportunity is by far the best option.

A new administration, particularly an administration that is not led by the war party will not start from the same position. In particular an administration that makes it clear that it is not attempting to establish permanent military bases in the region control Iraq's oil, start a war with Iran or pursue any other objective of the neocons will be vastly less objectionable to all sides in the conflict.

I don't think that the US people will demand an immediate withdrawal of all the troops by a new administration as suggested, provided that the adminitration is believed to be sincere in its efforts to end the occupation.