It's All Starting to Make Sense

No wonder the Prez insisted on no timetables for the budget funding the troops. I joked (and I was hardly the only one) that he wouldn't accept timetables because he never intended to leave. Well, I never expected anyone in his administration to actually own up to this, but that's just what the Prez's crack press secretary, Tony Snow, has done.

President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability but not in a frontline combat role, the White House said on Wednesday.

The United States has had thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea to guard against a North Korean invasion for 50 years.

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White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush would like to see a U.S. role in Iraq ultimately similar to that in South Korea in which "you get to a point in the future where you want it to be a purely support model."

And just in case anyone thinks Snow was talking out of turn, the secretary of defense and a major general in Iraq both jumped on the bandwagon.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and a senior U.S. commander said yesterday that they favor a protracted U.S. troop presence in Iraq along the lines of the military stabilization force in South Korea.

Gates told reporters in Hawaii that he is thinking of "a mutual agreement" with Iraq in which "some force of Americans . . . is present for a protracted period of time, but in ways that are protective of the sovereignty of the host government." Gates said such a long-term U.S. presence would assure allies in the Middle East that the United States will not withdraw from Iraq as it did from Vietnam, "lock, stock and barrel."

Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who oversees daily military operations in Iraq, supported the idea at a news conference in which he also said U.S. military units are trying to reach cease-fire agreements with Iraqi insurgents.

Odierno said he sees benefits in maintaining a South Korean-style force in Iraq for years. "I think it's a great idea," he said, adding that the Iraqi and U.S. governments would have to make that decision.

At least they've got it right out in the open now, so we can all be clear on what we're talking about.

In case you need a refresher, Slate's Fred Kaplan and Josh Marshall explain why Iraq is not South Korea.