Supporters

Leaders like Slobodan Milosevic -- and George Bush -- can take comfort from the fact that some people will support them to the bitter end.

Greta recently posted about a Reuters report that British sources say that they and the US will pull troops out of Iraq in 2007. She writes:

As for the President, I still respect and honor all his decisions, but his PR stuff - fugetaboutit!

I commented...

My view: It's probably true but irrelevant.

This report comes from British sources. No doubt they would like to get out. It says the US has agreed to a timetable. This is probably also true. The Pentagon says there is no timetable. Once again, probably true, but they wouldn't tell us if it was. Their timetable (or the White House's) is probably semantically qualified to the extent that they're convinced it is not a timetable.

Bush is going to cut and run from Iraq, leaving a worse situation than when we arrived, having created a true terrorist training center. I don't "respect and honor all his decisions" -- heck, I didn't even agree with all of Clinton's decisions. I didn't agree on the wisdom of invading when and in the manner that we did, and I don't agree on the cowardly, reckless bug-out they're now planning. I certainly don't respect that all the talk of force reduction will be spun around the needs of the '06 and '08 elections. The administration is the teenagers trying to cope with the aftermath of their party before the parents get home.

The reality in Iraq may keep us there longer than the Bush people can tolerate. There will be lots of attempts to claim that the Iraqis are now "standing up" and that lots of progress has been made. But these will be politically-forced assessments much like the WMD analysis used to get us into Iraq. The blood will seep under the door, and loyalists like yourself, Indian Chris, and Silke will be asked to proclaim that it is cranberry juice instead.

Left grip is 26 pounds (23, 26, 23), right grip is 70 pounds (70, 70, 70), inhale volume is 3600 mL. Some kind of slippage going on?

I started the ursodiol (300 mg q12) at breakfast.