Half A Friedman

Spencer Ackerman has plenty of substantive commentary on the first-ever press conference by the Baker-Hamilton Commission, chaired by GOP wise man James Baker and Democratic wise man Lee Hamilton and tasked with figuring out what the hell to do about Iraq. I prefer, however, to make jokes: "For reasons that he declined to elaborate upon, Hamilton said the next three months in Iraq will be 'critical,' particularly in the areas of securing Baghdad, national sectarian reconciliation and the provision of basic governmental services to Iraqis."

Thus, one Hamilton equals 0.5 Friedmans.

Jokes aside, though, I prefer not to get too thick in the weeds of exactly when we should leave Iraq. The main point, from where I sit, is that we not stay on this current track where we're going to be there essentially forever. So the question, to me, is always "well, if in 1 Friedman or 0.5 Friedmans or however many Friedmans you like, Baghdad still isn't secure, then can we leave or does this need to continue forever?"