Numbers, lives, an election.

Iraq and Afghanistan are back on page one in today's news. Well, not quite. Iraq is actually on page 15A. The Iraqis are asking the UN to investigate to see what happened to $17 billion dollars we American taxpayers sent to them, but which now is missing. American officials trying to trace the money say that Iraqi government officials have so far refused to give them viewing access to bank records.

Meanwhile, Obama announces the withdrawal of ten thousand U.S. troops from Afghanistan. General Petraeus, who has led the surges in Iraq and Afghanistan, is said to have been opposed to this decision. However, polls show that 55% of the American people are in favor of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Right about now, Obama will take 55% approval.

He calls it "The way forward," but since when is retreat a forward motion? Richard Fernandez quotes Robert Kagan at the Washington Post:

The entire military leadership believes the president’s decision is a mistake, and especially the decision to withdraw the remainder of the surge forces by September 2012. They will soldier on and do their best, but as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, put it, in characteristic understatement, they believe the decision will increase the risk to the troops and increase the chance that the mission will not succeed. It bears repeating that the deadline imposed by the president has nothing to do with military or strategic calculation. It has everything to do with an electoral calculation. President Obama wants those troops out two months before Americans go to the voting booth.