Troop withdrawal and red herrings...

bartcop.com

Now, why did we go into Iraq in the first place?

OK, you mean aside from the irrational neo-con "gotta get Saddam" hysteria?

It's the oil stupid! When the black stuff supplies dwindle, we need to have our military in the middle east. In Iraq, and within striking distance of Saudi Arabia.

Check out what the Los Angeles Times says about the U.S. Air Force:

U.S. military officials say that addressing the question of when they will allow the Iraqi air force to acquire combat capabilities is years away. The U.S. Air Force, they say, will retain control of Iraqi airspace for the foreseeable future, regardless of any drawdown of ground troops.

So never mind the troop withdrawal. That will happen and we will say we've withdrawn when we keep say 50,000 troops out there. Like in South Korea. The air force will never relinquish airspace control, and while we have that, it would be hard for, say, the Chinese to get their hands on the dirty black stuff under the desert sands.