Operation Withdrawal Scam

This article sums up clearly what I've been thinking -- that we will continue to hear about phased pullouts and plans for withdrawals from Iraq while the bloodshed and chaos continues unabated. It's a brilliant and (according to the subtext of the article) Rovian ploy.

And of course anyone who thinks the neocons want out of Iraq is smoking too much Afghani hash. The plan is, and has always been, to stay parked on top of all that delicious black gold.

From the article:

A recent letter in The New York Times shed more light on the Bush administration’s intentions than hours of network punditry. “My brother-in-law just returned from a stint in Iraq with the Minnesota Air National Guard,” wrote Ronald M. Asher II. “Although he couldn’t tell me where in Iraq he was stationed, he did say that the level and type of construction going on at the air base convinced him that the United States military planned on being there for a very long time.”

Well, duh.