Stating the obvious

"The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home."

-- President George W. Bush

It's about time someone finally said this. Why aren't we shouting this on every TV station in Iraq and the United States? The benchmarks which we've been bandying about are all going in the wrong direction. By telling everyone - which, thanks to CNN includes the insurgents and al Qaeda - that we'll be leaving Iraq if things get worse, we're only encouraging the insurgents and al Qaeda to increase the pace of their attacks. By stating that the only way we're leaving is when there's stability and then following through on that (by, for example, this removal of 30,000 troops) we'll show the insurgents that the best way to get American troops out of Iraq is to stop attacking them.

Citing progress, Bush to reduce troops
The Politico

President Bush will use his Oval Office address Thursday to offer what an aide calls a "plan for success in Iraq" that dovetails with the numerical drawdown advised by Army Gen. David Petraeus, aides said.

"This is a mission change based on success and progress on the ground and not a timetable for a hasty withdrawal," said a senior administration official familiar with the speech. "This is a time to put politics aside and an opportunity for people of differing viewpoints to get together."

In making the case that soldiers will return home based on conditions in the theater, officials say reductions will be possible in some regions before others.

"The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is 'return on success'," Bush said in excerpts of his speech released early by the White House. "The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home. And in all we do, I will ensure that our commanders on the ground have the troops and flexibility they need to defeat the enemy."