Say Anything Blog

That's what the Iraqi government is saying...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of foreign soldiers in Iraq will fall below 100,000 by the end of the year, Iraq's national security adviser told The New York Times in a report posted Monday on the paper's Web site.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, who is also chairman of a joint-Iraq-American group planning the transfer of security responsibilities to Iraqi troops from American, said the overwhelming majority of foreign troops would be out in two years, The Times said in a report from Baghdad.

The Times said Rubaie's statements offer the strongest indication yet that the Bush administration is preparing to carry out significant reductions in American forces this year.

"I believe, according to this conditions-based agreement, that the multinational forces will be reduced" to fewer than 100,000 by the end of the year, he told The Times.

"By the end of 2007, the overwhelming majority of the multinational forces will have left the country," he added.

Sounds to me like we're edging ever close to victory.

Our government has promised the new Iraqi government that our troops will not stay one moment longer than they are wanted in Iraq. If the Iraqi's want us to significantly draw down our troop levels over the next year I have little doubt that our government will do that. Plus, it seems as though this dovetails with announcements for troop withdrawal already made by the Pentagon.

Regardless, this is good news for those Americans who want to see our troops come home from Iraq. Which, from a certain perspective, is nearly every single citizen in this country.