Last week it became apparent that the Iraqi government has reached the same conclusion. In order to make our occupation "legal," the elected Iraqi leadership must pass new status of forces legislation essentially inviting us to stay before the United Nations Security Council extension of the mandate of multinational forces expires on December 31, 2008.

On July 8, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security advisor, told reporters that:

We will not accept any memorandum of understanding that doesn’t have specific dates to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq.

It will be interesting to watch Iraq’s US-backed government attempt to assert its independence in the face of US leadership opposed to any withdrawal, much less timetables. President Bush opposes timetables; General David Petraeus opposes timetables; and Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has stated publicly that he expects the Iraq war to last 100 years. Surely McCain and his corporate backers would be terribly disappointed if our military were to leave in only a year or two. I for one am hoping to see McCain with a sad face because his war policy, like the Bush-Cheney policy which it continues, is simply unacceptable.