Is this a 'work-around'?

Are we witnessing the laying of groundwork for a 'work-around' to the President's promise not to put 'boots back on the ground' in Iraq? Politics being defined as 'the art of the possible' and all like that...is this a not-so-sly bit of manipulation to soften up the critics for another full-scale 'mopping up' operation in a struggle which was really never successfully concluded in Iraq?
Or is my old Crystal Ball deceiving me?