Jonathan Schwarz discovered a fascinating and as-yet unreported fact: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has endorsed the Obama-Clinton plan for Iraq and rejected the McCain plan.

I believe the American forces can draw down. I don't believe the decision for a drawdown should be paused as long as Iraqi security forces -- based on the first agreement the more Iraqi forces move forward, the more U.S. forces move back until all security responsibilities are handed over and coalition forces remain in a support role. And in a support role, you don't need such a big number.

Both Obama and Clinton support a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, roughly 1 combat brigade per month. (There are now 20 brigades in Iraq and 5 will return with the end of the surge.) Under both plans, our "residual forces" would be roughly 60,000 troops, according to Chris Bowers.

McCain, on the other hand, opposes any withdrawals and wants to keep U.S. troop levels in Iraq at their current levels for 50, 100, 1,000, 10,000, or 1 million years. Anything less would be "surrender" to the "terrorists."

In 2004, one of the crucial issues in the last week was whether Osama Bin Laden explicitly or implicitly endorsed Kerry. So when will the Corporate Media McWhores report on Maliki's implicit endorsement of the Democrats?