The shell game continues

Boy, isn't it wonderful that the Pentagon and Rumsfeld have told us that things are better in Iraq and we can start to draw down troops there and bring them home?

Oh, wait:

WASHINGTON — Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace said Sunday that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase next year, not decrease, if the insurgency continued.
[snip]
"So if things go the way we expect them to, as more Iraqi units stand up, we'll be able to bring our troops down and turn over that territory to the Iraqis," Pace said on the Christmas Day edition of the talk show. "But on the other hand, the enemy has a vote in this, and if they were to cause some kind of problems that required more troops, then we would do exactly what we've done in the past, which is give the commanders on the ground what they need. And in that case, you could see troop level go up a little bit to handle that problem."

Well, imagine that. And on Christmas, when nobody will be watching or paying attention to the news! Gosh!