The Real Story In The Iraq Planning Meeting

The big news this morning is actually about yesterday, when President Bush was briefed on a force deployment plan in the Iraq War that calls for a relatively unchanged amount of troops after the post-surge drawdown until 2009. I would argue, though, that the subtext is actually the important part:

But it now appears likely that any decision on major reductions in American troops from Iraq will be left to the next president. That ensures that the question over what comes next will remain in the center of the presidential campaign through Election Day.

If this is codified as the actual plan, as I suspect it will be, then those of you concerned that the Iraq War will be a forgotten issue in this election may have less reason to be worried than you thought.