PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL? David Adesnik rains scorn on claims that the Bush Administration is planning a cut-and-run in Iraq. He’s right to do so, of course.

I suspect that there’s a rather complicated dance going on, with the U.S. reassuring various Iraqi factions that we’ll be there long enough, while also reassuring them that we won’t be there forever — and making clear to them that they shouldn’t plan on us being there forever.

One question is where U.S. troops will go from there: Syria? Iran? Saudi Arabia? Or elsewhere? I suspect we want to keep people guessing about that, too.