Bush Concedes, Embraces a 'General Time Horizon' For Iraq Troop Withdrawal

When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki first requested a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, the Bush administration swiftly shot down his proposal. "Timelines tend to be artificial in nature," a Pentagon spokesperson remarked. "[W]e're looking at conditions, not calendars here," the State Department remarked.

But today, the White House has seemingly embraced a " general time horizon" for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq. The AP reports:

Iraqi officials, in a sign of growing confidence as violence decreases, have been pressuring the United States to agree to a specific timeline to withdraw U.S. forces. President Bush has adamantly opposed a timeline, and the White House said Friday that the timeframe being discussed would not be "an arbitrary date for withdrawal." [...]