Now, we have the reverse. “Things are not getting much better in Iraq,” so we really can’t think about reducing troop levels.

That’s a very strange reading of Petraeus’ report to Congress that apparently ignores not only what he meant but what he actually said. He said:

I recommended to my chain of command that we continue the drawdown of the surge combat forces and that, upon the withdrawal of the last surge brigade combat team in July, we undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation. At the end of that period, we will commence a process of assessment to examine the conditions on the ground and, over time, determine when we can make recommendations for further reductions.

I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like he is recommending that we continue with the planned withdrawal of the surge forces as scheduled. And once those withdrawals are complete, we wait 45 days and then assess what further withdrawals we can make.

But you say:

Now, we have the reverse. “Things are not getting much better in Iraq,” so we really can’t think about reducing troop levels.

Well, since we are going to be reducing troops levels on schedule, it seems that he said exactly the opposite. There has been enough progress in Iraq that we can continue withdrawals and then look at withdrawing more.

If things look good - we can’t leave. If things don’t look good - we can’t leave.

We got ourselves in this mess, we don’t want to make even worse by leaving it.