IF BRITS ARE LEAVING, WHY CAN'T WE?

I find it a bit perplexing. Tony Blair announced a timetable for troop withdrawal for the 7,000 troops stationed in Basra; explaining to the House of Lords (or Commons), that they had been successful in stabilizing that small part of oil-rich Iraq, but said: "We leave Basra not how we wished it, but the Basra we can live with."

Almost immediately, the Bush adminstration was citing victory at the withdrawal, claiming that it was "progress" in the war, and that their new war plan was being vindicated. (Again, I was scratching my head and thinking, "What plan?")

But all this political grandstanding led me to ask another question: If the British are leaving, why can't we?

What's to prevent us from packing up and leaving too?

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

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