Again, an impressive knowledge of warfare demonstrated by the media
Posted by: McQ
Michael Shear claims:
Sen. John McCain, who has repeatedly derided anyone who advocated a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, now suddenly finds himself in a political box as the American-backed Iraqi leadership yesterday raised the prospect of exactly that.
You know, it's pretty sad when you have journalists who can't think beyond the current "gotchya" headline and understand the world of difference between a unilateral announcement of a timeline for withdrawal when a war isn't going well (and the probable effect it would have) and a timeline for withdrawal when you're winning and the country in question believes they are ready to take over the task.
As I said previously:
2 years ago, timetables for withdrawal were a bad idea because there were viable enemies still operating in Iraq.
Today? Not so much. Today we're talking about withdrawal timetables in the wake of victory. Then we were talking about timetables in the face of possible defeat. If you can't get you head around the difference, then I'd suggest you haven't much worthwhile to add to any discussion of the matter.
And I'm seeing a lot of worthless discussion on this faux point.
Today an Iraqi spokesman said:
A deadline should be set for the withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from Iraq, and the pullout could be done by 2011, an Iraqi government spokesman said Tuesday.
But he also said:
Ali al-Dabbagh said any timetable would depend on "conditions and the circumstances that the country would be undergoing." But he said a pullout within "three, four or five" years was possible.
Sounds to me like they're looking for an end-date for successful operations and full transition of the AO to the ISF before they'll commit to a timetable.
And any withdrawal will have a timetable. That's how you phase the operation. What you don't do, if you're in a conflict that can go either way, is announce it. That's what the Democrats insisted on.
