Rules of Disengagement

You can kick us out when we are good and ready to be kicked out...

I am not going to get too involved with the topic, but is anyone else struck by the absurdity of the current Iraq drama? We are purportedly negotiating with the Maliki government about what it will take to get us to leave. So far we are publically seeking control of their airspace for the foreseeable future, permanent air bases, and legal indemnity for both the U.S. Military and private contractors such as Blackwater. This last point is particularly irksome to me considering their cavalier way of conducting themselves.

The elephant in the closet is of course, oil and oil revenue. We can all see how that plays out in the future and will probably not be particularly surprised at the eventual outcome. I can see the Exxon trucks backing up now for their turn at the spigot.

Maliki appears quite enthused with the prospect of Obama's 16 month pullout. This is sending the Bush Administration into convulsions. Dana Perino made it clear yesterday that the White House was unhappy with Maliki’s publicly talking about specific dates of withdrawal.

“We don’t think that talking about specific negotiating tactics or, you know, a negotiating position, in the press, is the best way to negotiate a deal,” “I would hope that (the presidential successor) he would make them based on conditions on the ground, whichever president it is. Whether or not it’s 16 months or later or earlier I just don’t know.”

U.S. and Iraqi officials are not likely, she said, to meet their July 31 deadline for a “status of forces” agreement that would govern the U.S. deployment after the current U.N. mandate expires this year. It would establish just what say the Iraqis have in the deployment and when it ends.

Perino said that whatever time frame is worked out with the Iraqis, the withdrawal schedule would in the end be based on security conditions at the time that shifts in the deployment are being made.

“It’s not a firm, hard, fast date, where you, all of a sudden, take all the troops out,” she said.

When a reporter reminded her that the Iraqis did not appear to be on the same page -- and were characterizing 2010 as the time frame for withdrawal -- Perino replied: “That might be what some of them think. It might be what the prime minister thinks. But I will tell you that it’s based on conditions.”

But isn't it odd that we are dictating the terms of our leaving to a supposedly sovereign nation? Our handpicked proxy is basically asking us to not let the door hit us in the ass on the way out. It brings up an interesting question: how much freedom will the Iraqis really have in the future? I guess our occupation gives us a certain amount of sweat equity and if they don't play nice, we will just find a new puppet, er president. Why does the whole thing strike me as a farce.

The following is from Spiegel:

Maliki has long shown impatience with the open-ended presence of US troops in Iraq. In his conversation with SPIEGEL, he was once again candid about his frustration over the Bush administration's hesitancy about agreeing to a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. But he did say he was optimistic that such a schedule would be drawn up before Bush leaves the White House next January -- a confidence that appeared justified following Friday's joint announcement in Baghdad and Washington that Bush has now, for the first time, spoken of "a general time horizon" for moving US troops out of Iraq.
"So far the Americans have had trouble agreeing to a concrete timetable for withdrawal, because they feel it would appear tantamount to an admission of defeat," Maliki told SPIEGEL. "But that isn't the case at all. If we come to an agreement, it is not evidence of a defeat, but of a victory, of a severe blow we have inflicted on al-Qaida and the militias."

He also bemoaned the fact that Baghdad has little control over the US troops in Iraq. "It is a fundamental problem for us that it should not be possible, in my country, to prosecute offences or crimes committed by US soldiers against our population," Maliki said.

Shia and Sunni have been at each other's throats since time immemorial, they usually manage to kill a few hundred thousand or so of each other and then find an accommodation. The quicker we split, maybe the quicker they find stasis and eventual peace.