Turning the (time)tables (Eugene OR Register-Guard)

[struggle4progress]

Iraq wants U.S. to set a specific date to pull out
Published: July 9, 2008 12:00AM
Timetable. All of a sudden, Iraqi leaders are seriously uttering the dreaded “t-word.” It’s a word with such powerful negative connotations to Bush administration war hawks and their steadfast supporter, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, that they insist it can’t really be what the Iraqis meant. They meant “time frame,” a White House spokesman said, not timetable ...

... “We will not accept any memorandum of understanding that doesn’t have specific dates to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq,” al-Rubaie said ... Speaking to Arab ambassadors in Abu Dhabi, al-Maliki said, “The direction we are taking is to have a memorandum of understanding either for the departure of the forces or to have a timetable for their withdrawal” ...

“It is important to understand that these are not talks on a hard date for a withdrawal,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said, indicating either that he hadn’t actually read al-Rubaie’s statement or that the words “specific dates to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq” have an altogether different meaning in the Bush White House ...

McCain’s position is exactly the same as Bush’s — amorphous security conditions must dictate troop withdrawals. In reality, Bush and McCain both maintain that even when security conditions are good, as they seem to be right now, troops can’t be withdrawn because things could quickly get bad again. Why? Because “the enemy” may simply be lying low, waiting for U.S. troops to leave before resuming their mayhem. It’s an infinite loop that creates an open-ended and essentially limitless U.S. troop commitment in Iraq ...

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