We should be able to predict, within a month or two, when we can draw down troops

The Lieberman-Lamont Primary result is starting to be felt in other Connecticut races. Shays, the 4th District Republican Congressman, has previously opposed a timeline for withdraw. Facing a tough re-election race against Diane Farrell, it seems that he’s trying to hedge his bets.

Oddly enough, I’m not in favor of a timeline. A software release date is usually a balance between a schedule target and a feature target. I’ve never known anyone to actually hit both. If you are lucky, then you sacrifice some features to hit your date. If you’re unlucky, then you slip your date to include the critical feature subset in the release.

I think that a timetable for withdrawal doesn’t make sense without a set of goals to be satisfied prior to each stage of the withdrawal. In software, we always have the option of a follow-up release. But we don’t have that luxury in Iraq.