Thanks, And Don't Let The Door Hit You . . . .

by Steve Soto

With the Status of Forces Agreement negotiations dragging out, the Iraqis are ready to play the "end game" card now.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington.

It was the first time the U.S.-backed Shi'ite-led government has floated the idea of a timetable for the removal of American forces from Iraq. The Bush administration has always opposed such a move, saying it would give militant groups an advantage.

It seems the Iraqis aren't as concerned as the Bush Administration is.

"Today, we are looking at the necessity of terminating the foreign presence on Iraqi lands and restoring full sovereignty," Maliki told Arab ambassadors in blunt remarks during an official visit to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.

"One of the two basic topics is either to have a memorandum of understanding for the departure of forces or a memorandum of understanding to set a timetable for the presence of the forces, so that we know (their presence) will end in a specific time."

We all knew it would eventually come down to the Iraqis throwing us out, regardless of what Bush, Cheney, McCain, or Big Oil wanted. And with the military doing its job so well, al-Maliki is now talking openly of sending them home, cleverly playing to al-Sadr a week after he was able to get the Sunnis to come back to the government.

It would help if Obama started talking about linking our Iraq policy up to whatever the Iraqis themselves wanted, to draw a distinction with McCain.