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Timetable Watch

After a week of White-House orchestrated pounding on Democrats for cravenly proposing some sort of timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, could it be that Bush has a timetable of his own -- it's just a secret?

Michael Gordon wrote in the Sunday New York Times: "The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

"According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007. . . .

"On Friday, General Casey and Mr. Rumsfeld met with President Bush at the White House. A senior White House official said that General Casey did not present a formal plan for Mr. Bush's approval but rather a concept of how the United States might move forward after consulting with Iraqi authorities, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki."

Michael Abramowitz and Thomas E. Ricks write in The Washington Post: "Senate Democrats reacted angrily yesterday to a report that the U.S. commander in Iraq had privately presented a plan for significant troop reductions in the same week they came under attack by Republicans for trying to set a timetable for withdrawal. . . .

"Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), one of the two sponsors of the nonbinding resolution, which offered no pace or completion date for a withdrawal, said the report is another sign of what he termed one of the 'worst-kept secrets in town' -- that the administration intends to pull out troops before the midterm elections in November."

Bush this morning confirmed meeting with Casey, but said: "[I]n terms of our troop presence there, that decision will be made by General Casey, as well as the sovereign government of Iraq, based upon conditions on the ground. And one of the things that General Casey assured me of is that, whatever recommendation he makes, it will be aimed toward achieving victory."

Cheney on the Warpath Again

Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Eric Lichtblau write in the New York Times: "Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday vigorously defended a secret program that examines banking records of Americans and others in a vast international database, and harshly criticized the news media for disclosing an operation he said was legal and 'absolutely essential' to fighting terrorism.

" 'What I find most disturbing about these stories is the fact that some of the news media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people,' Mr. Cheney said, in impromptu remarks at a fund-raising luncheon for a Republican Congressional candidate in Chicago. 'That offends me.' "

Here's the transcript of Cheney's remarks.

He also showed no hesitation to use Friday's much-publicized indictment of seven men in Miami for political purposes.

"Unless somebody thinks the threat has gone away and does not exist, they ought to look at their morning newspaper. . . . [T]his morning the Attorney General held a press conference which I was watching as I came in on the plane to Chicago to announce the arrest of seven individuals in a cell in Miami, plotting among other things an attack on the Sears Tower here in Chicago. It is a very real threat."