Here’s the story our friends at TalkingPointsMemo broke on the joint declaration entered into by President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki which lays the ground work for a permanent U.S. security presence in Iraq.

One irony here being that General Douglas Lute contends that the President is free to bypass Congress on the deal while Iraq’s constitution requires that its parliament vote on any long-term U.S. presence in the country.

What really bugs me is the very idea of Bush’s involvement in the long term planning of anything except maybe the construction of a presidential library in Baghdad.  I mean, he does still plan on letting us elect a new president next year, right?