See you in September...

By Libby

Cheney is on a little Mid-east tour and made a surprise stop in Baghdad to give Maliki the benefit of his evil sneer. Seems the Veep doesn't think it's such a good idea for the Iraqi government to take a two month vacation this summer because it's screwing up the surge PR at home.

Leaving aside that our own legislators and the Commander Guy will also likely be taking an extended summer break in August, one has to wonder why Cheney is so hot to holler at Maliki. It's not like Dear Leader is planning to leave Baghdad no matter what happens. According to David Ignatius:

Bush is said to have told the Saudis that America will not withdraw from Iraq during his presidency. "That gives us 18 months to plan," said one Saudi source.

That report is certainly given creedence by the latest Pentagon statement noting that 35,000 troops are to be deployed in August "making it possible to sustain the increase of U.S. troops there until at least the end of this year."

U.S. commanders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that heightened troop levels, announced by President Bush in January, will need to last into the spring of 2008. The military has said it would assess in September how well its counterinsurgency strategy, intended to pacify Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, is working.

As Shaun Mullen notes, September seems to be the magical deadline with great appeal to all the players, each for their own reasons. However, I fear given the intractable position of a White House that still seems to be convinced of its ability to make its own reality, that my collegeaue Jim is right. Short of impeachment, not a damn thing is going to change until January 09.

[thanks to State of the Day for the link]