As we head into the Month Which Everything Changes, here's the basic outline of The Deal:
1) Democrats, to court Republicans, agree to declare a bit of victory ("situation improving...")
2) They compromise on a bill which suggests very strongly that maybe, just maybe, if security conditions "continue to improve" that Bush should consider, if he wants, bringing some troops home. But, you know, nothing that constrains his authority as Supreme Leader to do whatever the hell he wants.
3) Since troop levels can't be sustained, this is in fact what happens beginning April so that by November of 2008, the number of troops in Iraq is just about precisely what it was two years (!) previously, when the awesome surge began.
4) Everyone owns the war now.
