There's Room in President Goldstein's Administration For These Guys

In today's Washington Post, James Steinberg and Michael O'Hanlon have an op-ed piece entitled "Set A Date To Pull Out." Their policy sounds a lot like President Goldstein's policy.

The danger is not that we will cut and run but that the Iraqis will insist that we get out, leaving behind a security vacuum that could ignite civil war and wider regional strife.

How can we avoid such a disaster? First, we must make clear that our military presence in Iraq is designed to permit the Iraqis to freely choose their own future -- even if it is not fully to our liking. We should indicate not just that we will leave if asked but that we will ourselves plan to end the deployment of coalition forces following the election of an Iraqi government and the adoption of a new constitution next year. We should make clear that we (as part of a wider international coalition) would be prepared to stay beyond that time -- but only at the request of the new Iraqi government, and as part of a new, U.N.-sponsored mandate on terms that are acceptable to the new Iraqi government and to us.

This of course makes eminent good sense. But it would mean giving up on the 14 permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, as well as the Mosul-to-Haifa pipeline, and all the other neocon pipedreams of U.S./Iraeli hegemony in the middle east. So it won't happen unless we - all together now - GET THE DESERTER OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE!