Fun with deliberate contradiction:
U.S. officials in Iraq said Tuesday that government leaders there have agreed to develop a timeline by the end of the year for progress in stabilizing Iraq and reducing violence that has killed 300 Iraqi troops during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan alone.
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander who appeared at a news conference with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, said Iraqi forces should be able to take control of security in the next 12 to 18 months with minimal American support.
Casey also said he felt the United States should continue to focus on drawing down the number of American forces in the country, adding that he would not hesitate to ask for more troops if he felt they were necessary. (emphasis mine)
Sounds to me like a certain someone told this guy to find a way to suggest withdrawal without actually saying it, while leaving open the possibility of diving even further into the muck so as to not confuse the tiny %age that’s nutty enough to think “stay the course” makes sense. Desperation, anyone?
***updated 102506 @ 4:53 EST*** Even the PM of Iraq knows the real purpose of this kind of talk…
[Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki [...] slammed the top U.S. military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for saying his government needed to set a timetable to curb violence in the country. At a news conference Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said al-Maliki had agreed.
“I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it,” al-Maliki said at a news conference.
The prime minister dismissed U.S. talk of timelines as driven by the upcoming midterm elections in the United States. “I am positive that this is not the official policy of the American government but rather a result of the ongoing election campaign. And that does not concern us much,” he said. (emphasis mine)
LOL…
