"Bush argues: "An artificial timetable of withdrawal would say to an enemy, 'Just wait them out.' It would say to the Iraqis, 'Don't do hard things necessary to achieve our objectives,' and it would be discouraging for our troops."

The reality is just the opposite.

The American occupation itself means that the Iraqis — both the warring groups and the government — can procrastinate all they like. American troops become both the targets of all and the excuse for doing nothing.

The only thing that will thoroughly concentrate Iraqi minds on confronting the challenges of a postwar Iraq is to put those challenges right in their face through a pullout timetable.
Philip G. Cerny

Newark, April 24, 2007
(Letter to the NY Times)