The logistics of the withdrawal notwithstanding, the real problem is the basic attitude.

If on 8 Dec 1941 a politician had suggested we establish a timetable for withdrawal before we went into Germany or Japan he would have been laughed off the stage. And probably run out of town on a rail as well. He would have been hardly better received if he had suggested it in 1946.

Going to war for the purpose of winning the war is one thing. Going to war for the purpose of coming home afterwards is quite another.