The Democrats’ dovish tendencies have finally combined with Iowa’s dovish tendencies to produce a new warp speed plan for withdrawing from Iraq.

John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months.

Mr. Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who is waging a populist campaign for the Democratic nomination, said that extending the American training effort in Iraq into the next presidency would require the deployment of tens of thousands of troops to provide logistical support and protect the advisers.

“To me, that is a continuation of the occupation of Iraq,” he said in a 40-minute interview on Sunday aboard his campaign bus as it rumbled through western Iowa.

It’s actually a plan to keep helping get Iraq back on its feet so we won’t have to go back in within a couple of years either to drive out the Iranians or stop a genocide or put our boot back on al Qaeda’s throat, but never mind that. Edwards’ plan really isn’t about war strategy, it’s about electoral politics.

At least his new plan has the backing of that noted military strategist, Elizabeth Edwards.

Elizabeth Edwards, his wife and political partner, who listened in on the interview from a seat across the aisle, intervened at the end of the session to underscore that Mr. Edwards did not intend to stop all training and was prepared to train Iraqi forces outside of the country. Mr. Edwards continued the theme while acknowledging that the benefits of such training would be limited.

She pops into the story like this a couple of times, once to clarify this new plan and once to chide the reporter for not asking more about that plan. What’s to ask, though? It’s simple: Run. And don’t worry about what you leave behind or whether you’re giving al Qaeda space to reconstitute.

It’s obviously not much of a real plan. We would leave Iraq before its military and security forces are ready to handle itself, which would inevitably lead to more violence, forcing us either to stand by and watch like the Clinton administration did during Rwanda’s worst days or get right back in and fight to get back to where we are now so it’s possible to finish the job and leave Iraq stable enough to take care of itself. It makes no strategic sense but it does make some political sense. It’s an Iraq strategy that’s all about Iowa.