WaPo follows the Postman's lead

You could find here on November 28th "Oil price to drop to US$41 - Attitude shifts on Iraq pullout" and then on the following day , Tuesday, November 29 "Undiplomatic Gossip "

Just as the decision had been made to invade, the decision to begin the withdrawal has been made – they just have to sell it.

Now today in The Washington Post, they have agree with the Postman. Jon Rauch in "All Over but the Pullback, Nixon Did It in Vietnam. Bush Will Do It in Iraq"

Rauch looks at the poll numbers from Pew and Rasmussen and forms the same conclusion.

"Finally, a sizable majority is worried about the decline in America's image overseas, and it blames the Iraq war for much of the decline. Two-thirds of the respondents told Pew that America is less respected now than in the past, and 43 percent of the public (not just of the two-thirds) calls this a "major problem." And what caused America's decline in the world's eyes? A heavy majority, including almost two-thirds of Republicans, points to Iraq.

What emerges here is not fleeting disenchantment, but a coherent and hard-nosed critique of Bush's strategy. The administration's fundamental problem is not that the public is discouraged by U.S. casualties, or that news from Iraq has been bad, or that the president needs to give better speeches. The problem is that many Americans see no stakes in Iraq sufficient to justify the military effort and diplomatic cost.

If Pew's findings are accurate, then presidential rhetoric and developments in Iraq have mostly ceased to matter. The public will not support a military operation that it has come to regard as social work on behalf of Iraqis, rather than security work on behalf of Americans.

It's all there, the lower oil prices, .... read it. The "war" is over ... well for now. (Just keep an eye on Bantz Craddock @ SOUTHCOM)

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