Historical Document

Mike Allen, "How Bush Plans to Get Out of Iraq", Time, November 30, 2005:

But read between the lines, and it is clear that the administration is setting a predicate for substantially reducing the 155,000 troops now in Iraq ahead of the midterm congressional elections in November 2006. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top administration officials have been laying the groundwork for weeks, and Bush removed any remaining mystery when he said in Texas on Tuesday that the Naval Academy speech would outline "the progress we're making in training Iraqis to provide security for their country"—his central criterion for bringing U.S. forces home.

Bush advisers tell TIME that the speech and document are aimed at framing a graduated departure from Iraq in the President's own terms, so that he can make it appeared principled and deliberate, rather than a response to pressure from public polls or needling by Democrats. "People on the Hill say he has to get out of there," a senior administration official said.

But of course Allen was wrong, we didn't leave Iraq, and many Americans have died as a result.