more than honoring the timetable to leave Iraq that Bush put in place before he left office. This IMO is the tragedy of Bush's decision to invade Iraq in the first place, and all the neoconservative offhanded cockiness that we can "walk and chew gum at the same time", as though that's the same as two wars of occupation. Once wars cross administrations, they become institutionalized, almost like a permanent extension of our govt. Disentangling from these complex situations is a mess, no matter who does it.

The presidents who inherit the mess can't do much about it. Except end it, unless they want keep throwing resources and lives into the meat grinder and leave it for the next president. I promise you - if this effort fails and in two years President Joe Biden negotiates our exit, a repub senator will publish a scathing criticism, and it will contain many good points.