Ah Ron, can you only ever debate any point by putting words into other peoples mouths and taking them to task over them?

Let's see what was it you eventually managed to come up with:

1) "You conveniently ignore the fact that the UK contingent in the "Coalition" in Iraq is already down from its peak." - Now of what relevance is that Ron? In the past on Iraq threads I have drawn attention to the rapid drawdown of UK troops when the leftist anti-Bush brigade were howling about US & UK establishing permanent military bases in Iraq. UK involvement peaked at 43,000 troops in the South of Iraq in March 2003 within six months that number was down to around half that, in a year it was down to 15,000, steadily reduced since then it now stands at about 4,000.

2) "For some reason the UK doesn't believe that it's worth putting yet more troops in Iraq to support the "surge". Now I wonder why that is." Could it possibly be because the situation facing the MNF troops in the Southern part of Iraq is totally different to the situation faced by the MNF troops in the Central parts of Iraq which is totally different from the situation faced by the MNF troops in the Northern part of Iraq? Please note Ron out of the eighteen Governates that comprise Iraq the "surge" only applied to about four including Baghdad. There was absolutely no requirement for a "surge" in the South or North of Iraq - could that possibly be the reason?

3) "You tell us that if we pull our combat troops out of "rump Iraq" we are in grave danger of consigning Iraq to domination by Iran." - Did I Ron? Don't think so, I did however say perfectly clearly that should the US quit Iraq prematurely in any way that could be taken as being the result of actions by the insurgents, militias or more importantly Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq then that would have extremely serious consequences not only in Iraq itself but for the middle-east region as a whole and throughout the world in general. You on the other hand seem to deny that would be the case and insist that the problems would only be local - in believing that you are deluding yourself.

4) "You also tell us how popular the US is in Iraq." - Really Ron? Where have I ever told you how popular the US is in Iraq?

5) "US pressure for permanent bases in Iraq." - Leftist, anti-war, anti-Bush myth that is rapidly approaching it's sell by date. Your eagerly awaited President-of-choice-to-be Barak Obama has I believe rather unclearly said that he would not seek to establish permanent military bases in Iraq. Which is a pity because if the Iraqis living around any projected sites for those bases had a word with their counterparts in Germany, they would find out that it would be like living on top of a gold mine.

So Ron please tell me:

A) Where exactly did I say that, "we should keep US combat troops in Iraq because "anything is possible"?

B) Where exactly did I say that if we pull our combat troops out of "rump Iraq" we are in grave danger of consigning Iraq to domination by Iran?

C) Where exactly did I tell you, or anybody else, how popular the US is in Iraq?