BBC NEWS | Middle East | US 'to reduce its forces in Iraq'

Ahhh.. so US troops may be coming home towards the middle of next year, huh? This is good, because a reduction in coalition presence (and, let's be serious, here, that means British and US troops) means that some of our troops will be coming home, too.

So ... like ... just in time for the US elections?

I guess it's gratifying for Brits to know that the deployment and return of British troops is being done in accordance with some other country's political needs. British troops can stop being killed because tickertape parades in Washington DC will be a coup just before the midterms.

I mean, it'd be bad enough if we thought Blair sent our boys off to die for his own political agenda, but for someone else's?

Oh, wait, that's what's been going on all along.

Hang on, how the fuck did the grinning twat get re-elected?

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to hear that an and to this may be in sight, but it kinda sticks in my throat that the war is ending, like it began, not because it's right or necessary, but because it's politically advantageous.

p.s. note how the Bush administration is still trying to link Iraq to 9/11

US 'to reduce its forces in Iraq'

The White House says it expects conditions in Iraq will permit a reduction in the number of American forces in the country next year.

A spokesman told journalists progress was being made with the training of Iraqi security forces and that would allow the US to reduce its presence.

President George W Bush is expected to repeat that big advances are being made in Iraq in a speech later on Wednesday.

Correspondents say he wants to give Americans hope that an end is in sight.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the rhetoric from the White House has changed.