There was just a news story in the last week about Al Qaeda and reinforcements to Iraq, and the conclusion was, yes, they have fighters in Iraq, but *new* fighters are all going to Afghanistan. So as we kill off the ones in Iraq, they're not being replaced. Which means we don't need to keep all those troops in Iraq anymore, and should instead be sending them to where Al Qaeda is reinforcing, and that is their home turf, where they perceive that they have *us* on the run now (because we gave them five years of breathing room to rebuild while we wasted time/cash/lives in Iraq).
But really, the Iraqi president says it's time to go. Didn't we go to all this trouble to help them establish a democracy so they can call their own shots? Well, they are, and we had better listen or we *will* become the occupying force that some folks say we are.
Obama said he wants us out in 16 months. If elected, he takes office in January, so 16 months from then would be May 2010. The Iraqis want us out by mid-2010. Same thing. Obama was right all along. McCain didn't want us to leave when things were dicey. Now that the Iraqis are starting to step up, he doesn't want us to leave because things are going too well. Translation: he doesn't want us to leave, period, ever, regardless of how it's bleeding us dry of treasure.
Inciddentally, I'm a former soldier myself, from a prior generation. I earned my combat patch, and I support the military. I do not support *abusing* the military, which is what has been happening since Bush took office. Spending thousands of our soldiers' lives and trillions of our citizens' dollars because he had a hardon to get Saddam was an abuse of our military. He basically used our military to win an extraordinarily expensive grudge match, that's all Iraq was about. A terrible waste.