Some, like John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, want a short timetable, while others, like Senator Joseph Biden, resists a firm timetable but predicts a withdrawal of 50,000 US troops in 2006, with many of the remaining 100,000 to follow in 2007. Those of us who believe that invading Iraq was a mistake, and that Bush is guilty of hubris in his failure to plan adequately for the aftermath, face a dilemma: if America withdraws too precipitously, it may compound these mistakes.