Leon Panetta, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, told the Senate that U.S. troops would likely remain in Iraq at the Iraqi government’s request. “I think it’s clear to me that Iraq is considering the possibility of making a request for some kind of presence to remain there,” Panetta said at his confirmation hearing. “I have every confidence that a request like that is something that I think will be forthcoming at some point.”
Obama, you may remember, won the Democratic nomination in large part because he called Iraq a “dumb war.” It’s a dumb war he now seems content to continue, as he hopes Iraq begs us to stay. No word on when the U.S. Army became the Salvation Army.
