Is everyone ready? Then let’s begin.

In the weekly radio address, Bush said, “To begin to bring troops home before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for our country.” It used to be that we’d leave only after “victory.” Now, it’ll just be when we’re “ready.” And that judgement will be left to the people below him in the chain of command.

Another key word in that sentence: begin. It appears again a few sentences later: “Most Americans want to see two things in Iraq: They want to see our troops succeed, and they want to see our troops begin to come home.” Actually, I think most Americans want to see them actually come home. All of them. You, George, are the one who wants a permanent military presence.

In his press conference Thursday, Bush denied that Al Qaida is stronger now than it was before 9/11, but today he said that withdrawing from Iraq “would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda”. Dunno, seems to me that if that were true, then they’re at least a teensy bit stronger than they were six years ago.