August 22, 2008 3:32 PM

While Bush Ranches, Withdrawal Deal Advances

Could the October surprise be an August surprise? While President Bush naps and cuts brush at his Crawford ranch, Condi Rice is negotiating a deal with a new legal term - aspirational timelines - for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Amazingly, the draft plan adopts the Obama timetable for withdrawal from urban areas (2010) and from everywhere a year late.

While some skeptics on the left quite reasonably worry that this is just another ploy to extent the occupation indefinitely, it could just as well be closer to the declaration of victory long needed to free up troops for the rapidly declining situation in Afghanistan. I would not be surprised to see some troops come home just before our November elections to great fanfare, while an equal number of different troops are shipped out under the cover of darkness to Afghanistan.