(got that?)

Sadly, No! makes a good point. The Republicans actually do have a plan for Iraq: stay there forever.

As far as I can tell — and I’m not the smartest or most sober guy ever, but I can often make up for it by doing really focused due diligence — the reason we’re in Iraq is that there’s oil there; and we’re building permanent military bases because we intend to maintain a presence in Iraq for the foreseeable future, in regard to that oil, which would otherwise be on the market where such entities as China would be competing for it equally. It’s not about WMDs, or about removing a threat, nor about ’spreading democracy,’ and never was; but about the simple fact that there isn’t very much oil left unclaimed in the world, and whether ensuring a supply of it militarily, through conquest, is a good or bad thing geopolitically (I wonder about that often, with clammy discomfort), the current administration is an administration of oilmen, who are also focused almost exclusively on the needs of people like themselves.

So no, they’re not leaving. They intend to stay.

"Staying the course" is their plan. There is no plan to leave Iraq because they aren't planning on leaving Iraq.