Bush's Mysterious Iraq Policy

"But the pact is expected to include an 'aspirational date' for Iraqis to take over security for all of the war-torn country's provinces, she said amid a confused back and forth between Baghdad and Washington on the issue."

The Coverage

Dan Eggen and Michael Abramowitz write in Saturday's Washington Post: "President Bush and Iraq's prime minister have agreed to set a 'time horizon' for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq as part of a long-term security accord they are trying to negotiate by the end of the month, White House officials said yesterday.

"The decision, reached during a videoconference Thursday between Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, marks the culmination of a gradual but significant shift for the president, who has adamantly fought -- and even ridiculed -- efforts by congressional Democrats to impose what he described as artificial timetables for withdrawing U.S. forces. . . .

"Aides to Bush portrayed the announcement yesterday as consistent with the president's long-standing position that troop levels could be reduced in Iraq only as security conditions improved and as Iraqi forces showed greater capacity. However, some aides said privately that the statement was necessary for the Iraqi government, which wants to show the Iraqi public that U.S. forces are on their way out while limiting any risk from reduced troop levels."

Steven Lee Myers writes in the New York Times: "Mr. Bush, who has long derided timetables for troop withdrawals as dangerous, agreed to at least a notional one as part of the administration's efforts to negotiate the terms for an American military presence in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.

"The agreement. . . . reflected a significant shift in the war in Iraq. More than five years after the conflict began with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the American military presence now depends significantly, if not completely, on Iraqi acquiescence. . . .

"Under pressure from political parties wanting a diminishing American role, Mr. Maliki began demanding something in the agreement that would make it clear that American troops were on the way out. Iraq's statement on Friday, reflecting those internal sensitivities, referred more specifically than the American version to 'a time frame for the complete transfer of the security responsibilities to the hands of the Iraqi security as preface to decrease the number of the American forces and withdraw them later from Iraq.'"

Julian E. Barnes and Paul Richter write in the Los Angeles Times about what they called "a marked softening of [Bush's] long-standing opposition to deadlines for reducing the American presence.

"Administration officials portrayed the shift . . . as an evolution in policy rather than a fundamental change. . . .

"But military officials acknowledged that by setting targets for troop reductions, the new agreement was a step toward a timeline.

"'The bottom line is I think there has been a little bit of a shift, or at least a shuffle,' a senior Defense official said."

The Timeline the Iraqis Want

Not long after the announcement, however, Der Spiegel, published an interview with Maliki in which he said what kind of timetable he wants: The kind Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is talking about.