Warriors have the same problem as lovers: It's hard to say goodbye. For months, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has flirted with the idea that American forces in Iraq should stay past the Dec. 31 deadline to leave, almost begging the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to make the request.

But as much as security remains a problem in Iraq, Mr. Maliki knows that the American presence is an irritant to many Iraqis, so he has not yet endorsed the request, although his government has agreed to talks. The conflicted and less-than-enthusiastic Iraqi response has not stopped Mr. Panetta from continuing to push.

In Mr. Panetta's latest plan, the numbers are relatively low -- 3,000 to 4,000 troops left behind to train Iraqi security forces. But even that number would break a firm agreement negotiated in 2008 between President George W. Bush and the Iraqi government that all U.S. forces would be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011. Politically, failure to meet that deadline would be another example of President Obama disappointing those who voted for him.

It also is imperative that the Iraq war be brought to a close in the cause of deficit reduction. After more than eight years in Iraq, if the mission is not complete now, it never will be.

Americans still will run up a tab in Iraq, even if all 46,000 U.S. forces come home as scheduled. A small contingent of military trainers would remain in the country at the U.S. Embassy's Office of Security Cooperation -- as well as private security contractors and CIA personnel.

But it is important that the United States make as clean a break as it can. Americans are tired of this war, which has claimed more than 4,400 American lives since the 2003 invasion -- significantly more than the deaths on 9/11, which was its false pretext.

In August, for the first time since the occupation of Iraq, no member of the U.S. military died. This is a better reason to leave than the excuses to stay, which include a rise in sectarian violence and Iran's grubby fingerprints on unrest. At the end of the day, those are Iraq's problems to solve.

There are 50 ways to leave your lover, as the song has it, but Mr. Panetta needs only one to leave this war: It's time.

First Published September 12, 2011, 4:15 a.m.