I'm curious -- does he also plan on ending the US "occupation" of Japan, South Korea, and other nations where we have American troops and/or security arrangements? Or does he only want to abandon the Iraqis?

John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months.

Mr. Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who is waging a populist campaign for the Democratic nomination, said that extending the American training effort in Iraq into the next presidency would require the deployment of tens of thousands of troops to provide logistical support and protect the advisers.

“To me, that is a continuation of the occupation of Iraq,” he said in a 40-minute interview on Sunday aboard his campaign bus as it rumbled through western Iowa.

In other words, John Edwards has just set the surrender date for America in Iraq as Christmas, 2009. And he has told our terrorist enemies that all they need to do in the interim is lay low, so that they can then have their way in Iraq after we have abandoned the friendly government there.

Yes, John Edwards seems to have learned the lesson of Vietnam -- abandon your allies to the hands of your mutual foes.

Brian makes the following observation at HotAir.

It’s obviously not much of a real plan. We would leave Iraq before its military and security forces are ready to handle itself, which would inevitably lead to more violence, forcing us either to stand by and watch like the Clinton administration did during Rwanda’s worst days or get right back in and fight to get back to where we are now so it’s possible to finish the job and leave Iraq stable enough to take care of itself. It makes no strategic sense but it does make some political sense. It’s an Iraq strategy that’s all about Iowa.

Sounds about right to me.

By the way -- what is the deal with the picture that goes along with the article in the NY Times?

Looks like something submitted for a high school photography class or entered in the amateur category at the county fair.