An agreement with the Government of Iraq may make most of this academic. Still any ordered reverse of forward movement could be called an advance to the rear. Obama did not, as near as I can tell, include the withdraw of Air support for the Iraqi forces in his calculations for running away, er retreating, um withdraw. I doubt he seriously considered ordering any but the optimum withdraw scenario as provided by his military advisory. It all leads me to question what they’re drinking, er, smoking um, thinking?

However, the withdraw en mass starts out, by announcing the flee market location and time with no room for error and nothing to keep them guessing, the exercise will quickly turn our hard earned advances into a rout not witnessed since the days of Paul Revere, and with prospects potentially more bleak than Dunkirk. Of course any agreement made with the Iraqi government would negate or at least forestall most of the tomfoolery.