Exit plan in sight?

Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki after his first cabinet meeting: "We will use maximum force against terrorism."

The immediate reaction by the insurgents:

1. Car bombing in Baghdad

2. Suicide bomber in a Baghdad restaurant:

3. More suicide bombing in Baquba:

In all on Monday alone bombing spree in Iraq left 19 people killed.

And what are the Americans and Brits going to do now?

According to Condoleezza Rice:

"US and Iraqi generals will come up with plans that include what remains to
be done, what role Iraqi forces can play in that, what role coalition forces
still need to play."

And Tony Blair, in a whistle stop at Baghdad, said:

"If the worry of people is the presence of the multinational forces, it is
the violence that keeps us here. It is the peace that allows us to go."

I smell an exit plan being devised here by the Western allies, to leave the Iraqis to solve their own problems.

Excellent! The only problem? It is three years too late.