NYT: Rumsfeld Sees an Iraq Pullout Within 4 Years

[kskiska]

KUWAIT, Dec. 6 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld indicated Monday that he expected American troops to withdraw from Iraq within four years, but he cautioned that any final decision hinged on the progress that Iraq's civilian government and security forces made by then.

Asked by reporters traveling with him whether United States forces would be out of Iraq by the end of his second four-year term, Mr. Rumsfeld said, "I would certainly expect that to be the case and hope that to be the case."

He noted that President Bush had repeatedly said American forces would stay as long as needed in Iraq. But his answer offered intriguing clues to his thinking on two crucial subjects: the duration of the American military presence in Iraq and how long he will stay in his job.

The Defense Department announced last week that it would increase the number of American troops in Iraq to 150,000, from 138,000, by early next month, to help provide security for the Iraqi elections on Jan. 30 and to keep pressure on the insurgency.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/12/07/international/middleeast/07rumsfeld.html

[ScrewyRabbit]

1. He then smoked the rest of his bowl of crack, and passed out

on the john with his boxers around his ankles.

[stella2cat]

2. LOL

"there are unknowns, and there are things we don't know"

the brilliance of the D man is astounding!

[0007]

22. ,,,,,and junior sez;

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe—I believe what I believe is
right" George W. Bush: 43rd President of the United States

[Mr_Spock]

7. I was thinking along the same lines as you - good one.

Rummy is the biggest joke there ever was - nothing he says means anything to anyone - I wonder why he hasn't been kicked to the pavement like the rest of the freaks in the WH. Condi must give good head - that's all I can say.

[tsuki]

16. What a disgusting vision.

[NYC]

3. "Weeks, not months," said Cheney

on a Sunday morning television program.

[MO_Dem]

4. From the headline,

I get the impression that Rummy thinks Iraq will pull out within 4 years, leaving the country (and OIL) to the US. Is that what he's thinking? That if we make things bad enough, Iraqis will leave?

[Straight Shooter]

5. That was Kerry's plan, too

But I believed Kerry, because he made it clear we weren't after the oil or establishing a permanent presence.

I think you-all are right. Rumsfeld is smoking something left over from his pharmaceutical days.

[bhikkhu]

15. The * campaign ridiculed Kerry's four year plan

if I remember correctly, something about how it was ridiculous to expect that four years would be enough, or that an arbitrary time-line should be imposed.

[Edgewater_Joe]

6. Does He Foresee Us Dangling From The Bottom Of A Chopper, Too?

Douchebag.

Sorry. Just can't think of anything better to say about the douchebag.

[dflprincess]

8. I suppose the next thing he'll tell us is

that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

[Ilsa]

9. Four years: right about when Schrub* leaves office,

they'll pull out of Iraq, right after their blind trusts dump theit Halliburton stock.

[hickman1937]

12. Four Years

Does he mean right after repukes use war and black boxes to get Jebstro into the White House?

[IndianaGreen]

10. Rumsfeld is beginning to sound like Robert McNamara

the architect of the Vietnam War.

We are doomed!

[buddysmellgood]

11. Cut and run, cut and run. He's talking cut and run. Get back on message

Rummy. It's "Stay the course." It's hard, it's tough.

[wordout]

13. Wesley Clark

Winning Modern Wars, page 130:

"As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan." Clark adds, "I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned."

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Rumsfeld: Troop pullout within 4 years = sometime between March 20, 2008 and December 6, 2008.

Right on schedule!

[Javaman]

14. 4 years? Hmmm, that's when morons term is up.

So what he's saying is that the troops are going to stay in iraq long enough as to allow moron to have something to talk about other than the crappy ass economy.

[Sara Beverley]

17. 4 x 1280 = the least number of US military killed?

Just and estimate.

[sam sarrha]

18. PULL OUT BUSH. LIKE YOUR FATHER SHOULD HAVE !!!!

[Ganja Ninja]

19. We all know how good this asshole is at predictions.

We won't last another 4 years without a draft and he swore a draft wouldn't be necessary so which is it?

[Forkboy]

20. I wish Rummy's father had pulled out

[highnooner]

21. Didn't they say

that providing a timetable for leaving would allow the terrorists to plan the takeover of Iraq?