One of the Sunday morning pundits today (4/16/06) made an excellent point.  He observed that President Bush has refused to give a firm date for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, because, Bush says, such an action would embolden the terrorists to just wait us out.  However, Bush then ignored this principle when he mentioned that the withdrawal of US troops will be “a problem for future presidents.”  The pundit observed that, by making that statement, Bush emboldened leaders in Iraq to drag their feet with respect to their own security problems, because they now know they have at least three more years to benefit from having US troops die for their protection.

This raises the question:  would a target date for American troop withdrawal in Iraq help motivate both Iraqi leaders and citizens to press harder to secure their own safety and, thus, pave the way for fewer American dead?  Contrary to President Bush’s assertion that a a target date would only embolden the terrorists, a target date would also embolden the non-terrorists in Iraq to work harder to defend their own lives and liberty, instead of sitting back and letting Americans (both soldiers and contractors) to continue to die for them.