President Bush backpedaled Wednesday from a top U.S. general’s day-old prediction that Iraq will largely wean itself from American military assistance within 18 months.
“It’s a conditions-based estimate,” Bush explained at a press conference in the East Room. “This notion about, you know, fixed timetable of withdrawal, in my judgment, means defeat. You can’t leave until the job is done.”
On Tuesday, Gen. George Casey appeared to propose a timetable during a press conference in Baghdad.
“It’s going to take another 12 to 18 months or so until I believe the Iraqi security forces are completely capable of taking over responsibility for their own security,” Casey said.
The remark drew a rebuke from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
“This government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it,” he said at a news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday.
Al-Maliki echoed Democratic allegations that the Bush administration’s talk of a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces is a political ploy in advance of next month’s midterm election.
“I am positive that this is not the official policy of the American government, but rather a result of the ongoing election campaign,” he said. “And that does not concern us much.”
Bush said he was not imposing a hard and fast deadline on Iraqi officials.
“What we’re asking them to do is, ‘When do you think you’re going to get this done?’ ” he said. “That is substantially different from people saying, ‘We want a time certain to get out of Iraq.’ ”
Democrats pounced on the confusion.
“The Bush administration’s Iraq policy, like Iraq itself, is in complete disarray,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “One day, the administration calls for a timetable; the next day Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki objects to it.”
Bush acknowledged that October has been a particularly bloody month in Iraq, but emphasized that he is adjusting tactics to achieve victory.
“I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq — I’m not satisfied either,” he said. “But we cannot allow our dissatisfaction to turn into disillusionment about our purpose in this war.
“We must not look at every success of the enemy as a mistake on our part, cause for an investigation or a reason to call for our troops to come home.”
