Bush/al-Maliki Agree To Long-Term Stay Of Troops

We've known for quite a while that Bush had no intention of removing our troops from Iraq before the end of his term. Now he is trying to force that same decision on the next president.

Yesterday, Bush and the Iraqi leader al-Maliki signed an agreement that would leave a substantial amount of U.S. troops in Iraq for many years. The Iraqi leader said at least 50,000 troops would be left in the country to protect his government and the constitution that created it, even after the fighting has subdued (if it ever does).

Both men know that the puppet government that Bush has installed in Iraq would not last a week after all the U.S. troops have been withdrawn. While both the Shiites and the Sunnis disagree on the government they want in Iraq, both sides would like to see the current puppet government gone. That may be the only thing they agree on.

But political reality has never been Bush's strong-suit. He is determined to force this government on the Iraqi citizens no matter how long he has to let American troops die there. It has nothing to do with Iraqi self-determination -- it's all about Bush's pride and his unwillingness to admit he made a mistake.

However, even a C-student like Bush can see that it's very likely that the next president is probably going to be a Democrat. I think that's a major reason he signed this new agreement. It is an attempt to force the new president to leave troops in Iraq and protect his puppet government.

It might even work with Clinton and Obama. Both have said they would leave some troops there. But if the new president is Richardson, Edwards, Kucinich or Dodd, then this new agreement was an exercise in futility. All four of them have pledged to remove ALL U.S. troops from Iraq.

I think Bush has forgotten the root cause of the 9/11 attacks (if he ever understood it at all). The terrorists have been quite frank in telling us that they attacked America because American troops are stationed in Saudi Arabia and other places in the Arabic world. Leaving troops in Iraq will not solve this problem -- it will only exacerbate the problem, and set us up for more attacks in the future.

This ridiculous new agreement makes it even more important that either Richardson, Edwards, Kucinich or Dodd be elected in 2008. They are the only candidates that really understand the situation in that part of the world.