Now hang on just a second....

Remember when you were in clubs in high school and there was always some guy who thought everyone else's ideas were crap -- until he appropriated one of them, and suddenly he's a genius?

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Department of Defense:

Barring any major surprises in Iraq, the Pentagon tentatively plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces there early next year by as many as three combat brigades, from 18 now, but to keep at least one brigade "on call" in Kuwait in case more troops are needed quickly, several senior military officers said.

Pentagon authorities also have set a series of "decision points" during 2006 to consider further force cuts that, under a "moderately optimistic" scenario, would drop the total number of troops from more than 150,000 now to fewer than 100,000, including 10 combat brigades, by the end of the year, the officers said.

Despite an intensified congressional debate about a withdrawal timetable after last week's call by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) for a quick pullout, administration officials say that military and political factors heavily constrain how fast U.S. forces should leave. They cite a continuing need to assist Iraq's fledgling security forces, ensure establishment of a permanent government, suppress the insurgency and reduce the potential for civil war.

U.S. military commanders, too, continue to favor a gradual, phased reduction, saying that too rapid a departure would sacrifice strategic gains made over the past 30 months and provide a propaganda windfall to insurgents.

Uh, isn't this the kind of phased withdrawal Rep. Murtha was talking about? WaPo is really irresponsible here, because they're characterizing the Murtha proposal as being an immediate withdrawal. I realize that if we're talking about the infiniteness of time itself, six months, as Murtha proposed, is nothing -- but a phased reduction over six months would avoid the "turn tail and run" factor, while effecting an exit from the Iraq quagmire.

My own view on what to do in Iraq does NOT involve an immediate, or even a six-month timetable for withdrawal. Americans have allowed our leaders to take us into this mess, and now we are stuck with it until we can fix it. What we're doing is not fixing it. Frankly, the only answer I can see is to make Bill Clinton, who walks on water in the eyes of most of the Middle East, a special envoy to build an international coalition to effect a diplomatic solution. It'll never happen, of course, because it involves cutting the Bush Administration off at the knees, but it's the only way out of this that I can see.