Could it be that Bush is setting up Malaki to take responsibility for failure? Remember this is politics and the Republicans cannot be blamed for failure in Iraq. Bush is giving Malaki 20,000 troops (which is nothing as you pointed out); then when things don’t work out, Bush will simply blame Malaki and withdraw.
TheBreeze, I also like your vocabulary. Hawks would like to paint those who oppose Bush are limp-wrist pacifist ivory tower academics living in lala land — not. We are normal Americans who see a clusterfuck where a clusterfuck exists.