I believe it was the Bush administration which negotiated this withdrawal. Anyway, - - - (Drawn from "Angler", the book.)

As the Bush Administration drew to a close, Cheney was largely marginalized. His policies had failed, his main allies, Libby, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, were gone, the Republicans had lost influence in Congress, and Bush was listening more and more to moderate advisors such as Condi Rice. There just wasn't the interest in his extremism any more and Bush was more interested in his own legacy than Cheney's. End of synopsizing "Angler".

Beginning of Bowser opinion. In order for Cheney to be rehabilitated there needs to be attacks on the US and Iraq has to collapse back into war. Now both of those are a given, Iraq will descend into a civil-religious war. The only other option is for the US to keep large numbers of troops there until "the Iraqis stand up". Are we their police force forever? Prediction - Maliki will become a strongman much, very much like Saddam. The situation for your basic Iraqi will be very like under Saddam, except that the doctors, nurses and university professors are in Jordan and Iran. And the oil contracts with Western multinational companies will mean thousands upon thousands of US troops permanently stationed there protecting the fields.

There will be terrorist attacks on the US and US interests. Inevitable, given the number of attacks by the US on Muslims.

Cheney is simply trying to stake out his ground again, an "I told you so" in advance, so as to not be completely ridiculed by history.