- But in an interview with CNN, she said, "I suspect that the American forces are not going to be needed in the numbers that they are there for all that much longer because Iraqis are continuing to make progress in function, not just in numbers but in their capabilities to do certain functions like, for instance, holding a highway between the airport and the center of the city, something that our forces were doing just a short time ago, they're now doing."
"I think that's how the president will want to look at this," she said.
I know lots of people think the Republican Cut&Run shuffle (which is entirely different from any cutting and running suggested by Democrats in ways which are clear if you live in Wingnuttia) is inevitable. I don't. I think they'll continue to make noises about future withdrawals, but there won't be an actual serious withdrawal. Bush has said the terrorists want us to leave so we have to say. Leaving=losing. We'll be in Iraq at roughly current levels until the day he finally goes back to Crawford for good (well, at least until that campaign prop is sold).