He said it

George Bush statement issued from Camp David (and seen here modelling his new wooly jumper) on the Iraqi parliament's approval of the non-treaties with the USA --

The Strategic Framework Agreement sets the foundation for a long-term bilateral relationship between our two countries, and the Security Agreement addresses our presence, activities, and withdrawal from Iraq.

George Bush 2 years ago --

The changes I have outlined tonight are aimed at ensuring the survival of a young democracy [Iraq] that is fighting for its life in a part of the world of enormous importance to American security ... Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship.

They won't be a surrender ceremony because the agreement automatically pulls out all US troops during 2011!

UPDATE: As if to drive home the point, the status of forces agreement includes in its title "Organization of their activites during their temporary presence in Iraq".

FINAL UPDATE: Article 24, Section 1 of the agreement: "All the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory no later than December 31, 2011". That's it. No conditions, no aspirational timelines. It's a flat-out deadline.

There is at least one strange provision: Article 7: The use and storage of such [US military] equipment shall be proportionate to the temporary missions of the United States Forces in Iraq pursuant to Article 4 of this Agreement and shall not be related, either directly or indirectly, to systems of weapons of mass destruction (chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, radiological weapons, biological weapons, and related waste of such weapons).

Why does Iraq want a prohibition on US WMDs in Iraq?

White House photo by Eric Draper