Dying for Presidential Politics

Matthew Yglesias has a quote from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki alleging that the Bush administration got the date of our withdrawal from Iraq pushed back for political reasons:

"Actually, the final date was really the end of 2010 and the period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 was for withdrawing the remaining troops from all of Iraq, but they asked for a change [in date] due to political circumstances related to the [U.S] domestic situation so it will not be said to the end of 2010 followed by one year for withdrawal but the end of 2011 as a final date."

One often hear speculations that American military involvements are influenced by domestic political timetables, but rarely does one come across a statement this bold.

(Crossposted to American Footprints)