Details leaked from a classified Pantagon briefing by General George Casey, reported in the New York Times, outline a concept of how to cut US troop strength in Iraq approximately in half by December, 2007, with the first brigades withdrawn early this fall. The Republican response in last week’s debates to Democratic calls for a phased withdrawal, which all but the most hardened chicken hawks consider inevitable, was to say we needed to hear from the military. Now we have it, from the top commander in Iraq. But coincidentally enough, the proposed withdrawal is timed precisely to have maximal impact on the Nov. 2006 midterm elections and the 2008 Presidential campaign. Families of US troop casualties from here on out should feel proud that the death or maiming of their loved ones will have served a good cause — not the war effort but the Republican reelection effort and the culture war on the ground at home.