Then (June 25, 2005):
US President George W Bush has told Iraq's prime minister he will set no timetables for withdrawing troops from Iraq and acknowledged that the road ahead will not be easy.
..."If you give a timetable, you're conceding too much to the enemy," he added with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari at his side at the White House. "You don't have to worry, Mr Prime Minister, about timetables." It was a blunt rejection of calls from some members of the US Congress for the administration to develop a plan to begin a withdrawal. And now:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A leaked British memo outlining plans to bring more than half of U.S. troops home from Iraq within a year gives the clearest picture yet of how quickly Washington hopes Iraqi forces can take over.
The British government document, published by the Mail on Sunday newspaper, said Washington is discussing plans to cut its force -- now nearly 140,000 -- to just 66,000 by the middle of next year. Britain would cut its own force to 3,000 from 8,500.
Hm... So either the Bush administration didn't really mean it when they said "no timetables," or they've changed their minds. Either way, some on the right seem to be reacting so far with either upset that someone spilled the memo beans (thus giving hope to the enemy) or outright disbelief that the memo is even real. |
