New Verb: Iraq, Iran, Erode

Things don't seem to be going so well in Iraq, despite our best efforts to make it sound no worse than it was, say, two years ago. For the administration though the keystone of their assertions that things were working out was the expectation that by the end of the year, perhaps in time for the November elections, American troop strength in Iraq could fall and some troops could come home. That should put the following item for Salon.com's War Room into some context. If Rummy has to do this now, then the administration itself must think things are going to Hell in a handbasket;

Donald Rumsfeld today extended for up to four months the tours of duty for approximately 3,500 soldiers who were supposed to be on their way home from Iraq. "At the same time," the Associated Press reports, "the Pentagon signaled plans to maintain or possibly increase the current level of about 130,000 troops in Iraq by announcing that roughly 21,000 Army soldiers and Marines have been told they are scheduled to go to Iraq during the current 2006-2008 rotation."