One has to wonder if things like this will ever cause Obama to run ads saying “even the Bush administration is drifting toward my policies.” After years, and years, of arguing against a timetable for withdrawal, the White House is about to agree to just that.

The top Iraqi negotiator told AFP in Baghdad that the tentative accord calls for all US combat troops to be out of Iraqi cities by next June and US forces gone from the war-torn country by the end of 2011.

…

In a late-July survey by CNN, 62 percent said they favored setting a timetable for withdrawal, while 37 percent opposed doing so. The poll had an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.

Bush had also come under pressure because of public statements by Iraq’s leaders that they favored setting a timetable for withdrawal in the agreement, which both sides said was needed because the occupation’s UN mandate expires in late 2008.

A printing of the AP report in my local paper (which I cannot seem to find the electronic copy of), points out that “the administration has inched toward the Iraqi view” on a short-term withdrawal, once again highlighting the massive hypocrisy espoused by the Republicans who claim that this is all for the Iraqis.

The more important thing, though, is that this is a damn timetable. After all this time, they’re talking about having the troops out by 2011, a withdrawal plan that’s up to three years, but the important part is that the troops would be out of “major combat cities” by next June, phasing the rest out until December of ’11.

My theory holds true: eventually, everyone realizes that the liberals were right.