In their meeting with Bush last week, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid tried to offer Bush a naked surrender covered only by a figleaf (timelines with a "waiver"), but Bush wouldn't even accept the figleaf.

So Pelosi and Reid spent the weekend strategizing and appear to have chosen naked surrender.

In grudging concessions to President Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday...

Democrats in both houses are expected to seek other opportunities later this year to challenge Bush's handling of the unpopular conflict.

Democratic officials stressed the legislation was subject to change. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss provisions before a planned presentation to members of the party's rank and file later in the day.

So what will happen in the meeting? Will the Democratic rank-and-file surrender to their surrenderers-in-chief?

Or will they stand up for the overwhelming majority of Americans who want them to find a way to end the war as soon as possible?

This afternoon's meeting is crucial so call your Representative at 202-224-3121.

Update 1: NPR reports the Pentagon plans to stay in Iraq for "a few decades":

A series of military installations could be maintained around Iraq, with a total of total of 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. troops, for a long period of time — maybe a few decades.

Update 2: AP reports Bush is turning the screws on Iraq's parliament to turn Iraq's oil over to U.S. oil companies for a few decades (under 30-year "production-sharing agreements"), but that pressure is backfiring:

Senior Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman confirmed that U.S. pressure was mounting, especially on the oil bill, which was endorsed by the Iraqi Cabinet three months ago but has yet to come to the floor of parliament.

"The Americans are pressuring us to accept the oil law. Their pressure is very strong. They want to show Congress that they have done something so they want the law to be adopted this month. This interference is negative and will have consequences," Othman told AP.

Update 3: Big Tent Democrat offers this plan:

We must ALL press for an end date certain for the funding of this Debacle. We must insist that NO BILL be passed funding the Iraq Debacle after a date certain. We must insist on the Reid-Feingold framework. The rest is not only a waste of time, but, as the House Supplemental efforts that started this mess, harmful.