Americans want a timetable, Iraqis want a timetable

The only one's who don't want a timetable for leaving Iraq is the Bush administration. Why? Because a forced redeployment(that seems the preferred word rather than withdrawal) would be difficult to paint as a victory. There would be no "mission accomplished" speech for Bush to claim all the credit.

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi leaders, meeting at a reconciliation conference in Cairo, urged an end to violence in the country and demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq.

In a final statement, read by Arab League chief Amre Moussa, host of the three-day summit, they called for ``the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces.'' No date was specified.

Also, Saturday Night Live had a kinda funny(you really don't expect anymore than that from them, do you?) opening skit with an impersonated Bush answering questions in China. Two highlights, paraphrased:

"disagreement with the president is patriotic, and, well, my administration is making America more and more patriotic every day."

"Leaving Iraq early would mean that those who have died have died for nothing.... and that those who haven't died yet would also die for nothing."

Sorry, no matter how hard I try, I can't write funny. Go here to see for yourself. It starts slow, but gets better.