Atrios is definitely shrill, and very possibly unserious.

So good.

So, we're fighting "them" over there so we don't fight them here, if we leave they'll follow us home, we're fighting al Qaeda terrorists who want to kill us all, etc... etc... Except if the Iraqi government asks us to leave we'll go home and wait for destruction.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. You say you want nothing short of victory, that leaving Iraq would be catastrophic; you once again mentioned al Qaeda. Does that mean that you are willing to leave American troops there, no matter what the Iraqi government does? I know this is a question we've asked before, but you can begin it with a "yes" or "no."

THE PRESIDENT: We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It's their government's choice. If they were to say, leave, we would leave.