Democrats and war opponents have for months argued for a withdrawal from Iraq, partly on the grounds that neither the people of Iraq nor its government would seriously attempt reconciliation so long as the U.S. commitment there seemed open-ended. Some Democrats went so far as to say that by insisting on a date-certain for withdrawal, they were helping the administration by playing ‘bad cop’ to President Bush’s ‘good cop.’ If the Iraqis believed that Congress might really force a withdrawal, the argument went, they would press for reconciliation with more urgency. Well, the central story from Iraq today (even if it only made page nine of the Washington Post) is the agreement in principle on oil revenue sharing, federalism, and de-baathification:
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