Timing is everything

Just weeks before US elections, amid clear signs that voters are increasingly restive about Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumpelstiltskin sought to spin straw to gold by telling soldiers during a trip to Iraq that

[t]he United States may be able to reduce its troop levels in Iraq after the January elections if security improves and Iraqi government forces continue to expand and improve,

CNN said on Sunday.

So, GIs (and all you folks watching at home), just hang on until after January - which, coincidentally enough, is also after our elections - and everything will be fine! That dumb ol' John Kerry, he's talking about maybe getting a few home by the end of 2005, maybe - we're talkin' January! Hey, hey!

Of course, it does depend on those Iraqi security forces, but doggone it, we've - I mean they've - got 100,000 of them! Well, yeah, sure, only half of them have been trained. And well, okay, a lot less than half of those have actually gotten the full training. And sure, some of those we trained then went over to the other side. But hey, Gloomy Gus, look on the bright side! We've - I mean they've - got 100,000! You just wait until January, boy, just you wait!

On troop prospects before January, Rumsfeld was a lot less sanguine.

In a brief exchange with reporters after the Baghdad meeting, Rumsfeld grew agitated by questions about the possibility of needing to bring in extra American troops before Iraq's scheduled elections.

"There's a fixation on that subject!" he said with exasperation. "It's fascinating how everyone is locked on that."

Yeah, but what's the answer?