Originally Posted by carlgo

It would seem that this is a huge opportunity for the Dems as it forces McCain to either "flip-flop" (oh, when will that stupid phrase go away) and agree to get out sooner than what he suggested, or to defend staying there against the wishes of Iraq. This would likely result in a return to unified hatred of our occupation and high casualties again.

I suspect Obama will exploit this later in the campaign when it all plays out. It makes good sense to drop the hammer near the end rather than give away your hand too early. Voters forget stuff.

Anything can happen as clearly the administration is stunned that Iraq would spell out a withdrawal date. It is going to cost us taxpayers a lot of money to keep bases there as the Iraqis will correctly assume the neo-conservatives really want big bases near Iran and will pay dearly for them if they have to.