I know this isn’t a particularly noteworthy observation, but what incentive does the Iraqi government have to pick up the slack for providing their own security when President Bush is clearly a cowardly twit who doesn’t know what the hell to do? The dismissive attitude about a timeline for withdrawal (that insurgents will win if they “wait long enough”) seems like something the Administration should embrace. Until the Bush Administration is willing to say “Regardless of how ready you are, we’re going to be out of Iraq completely by the end of the year.” and back that up by withdrawing troops, then The Iraqis will never, ever pick up the slack.

Then again, this whole debate is contingent on the assumption that the President wants to pull out of Iraq, which he doesn’t. At this point, debates about what to do in Iraq are so pointless, we might as well be sitting around coffee shops discussing philosophy or reality TV.