Up is Down, or The Cheney View

So Cheney thinks that reductions of British troops in Iraq is a good thing, because it means that they feel the area of the country they're in charge of no longer needs them there. I don't know how you can say with a straight face that the withdrawal of troops by your main ally while you push for a troop surge is a good thing. I feel like Cheney would try to convince you that the loss of your toes to frostbite is a good thing because now you won't have to clip your toenails.

Andrew Sullivan thinks that this is a sign that Cheney is trying to set the stage for our own withdrawal. If you can prove that Iraq is ready for lowered troop levels by simply lowering the troop levels and saying "see?" then all that's left for Cheney to do is have a surge to make the Democrats look weak and then pull out and declare victory. Time will tell if this is the plan, but let me just say that given this whole administration's reverse Midas touch I'm skeptical of his ability to pull off a tricky political maneuver like that and have it work. Either way, Iraq is in a civil war, and it's pretty tough to see how Cheney can make it look like a good thing for us to be in the middle.