When Iraq’s Prime Minister al-Maliki said U.S. forces could leave “any time they want,” I thought the Democrats in Congress would take him up on his offer the next day. That every Democrat from Harry Reid to Hillary would say, Well, it doesn’t look like we have to stay in Iraq until next spring after all. We can pull out now.

But the Democrats barely batted an eye. Or hiccupped. They ignored Maliki’s offer. Which seems pretty strange for the party which says its mission in life is to bring the troops home just as fast as it can.

Could that just be political rhetoric? Could it be what Democratic leaders in Congress really anticipate is the war dragging on and on in its present miserable state until President Bush’s job approval numbers hit single digits and Republicans have no hope at all of winning the next election?

It may be in Washington there are two real views on Iraq: President Bush, who’d like to stay until the surge works; and the Democrats, who are happy to let him stay in this mess as long as he wants.

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