Bush says a pullback will occur 'in a while'

WASHINGTON: Fearful of a Republican rebellion over Iraq that his own aides believe could force him to change course, President George W. Bush said Tuesday that the United States would be able to pull back troops "in a while," but called on Congress to wait until September to debate the future military presence there.

Tony Snow: Not 'the beginning of the end' but 'the beginning of the beginning of the surge'.

CNN News asked Snow, "Is this week going to mark the beginning of the end of the Iraq War?" Snow's response was, "No. It really marks the beginning of the beginning of the surge."

Snow told CNN that the final forces for the surge only got into place two weeks ago. He also downplayed the importance of unmet benchmarks, saying "Benchmarks are not a device for trying to figure out how to get out of Iraq. They're a device for figuring out how to succeed in Iraq."

So we are now at the beginning of the beginning of the end of the war, which will take place "in a while", as soon as we figure out how to succeed in Iraq.