Norwester
Could be that the point for discussion here is that very recently the UK government announced the withdrawal of 800 troops from Iraq, which force reduction may have a marked effect on the Dear Leader’s ability to “tough it out” in that country, particularly as the withdrawal phraseology at the time strongly implied that this was the start of a much awaited pull-out from the Iraq mire.
Perhaps on the day of announcement, either you failed to read about it, as you apparently failed to read the BBC news copied in the original post, or your perception was one of a “slow news day” when any news was merely a “journo piece of rubbish to tide over”?
Finally, I notice that your Pprune join month is March 2006. May I draw your attention to what is generally accepted as the site’s ethos of encouraging debate rather than stifling it?