The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • Sports

    KNOTT: Pollin honored as a D.C. treasure

  • Sports

    Jamison lights fire under Wizards

  • Politics

    Uninvited White House guests met Obama in line

  • Sports

    Wife aids Woods after SUV crash

  • National

    Volunteers for drug trials hard to find

  • Business

    Dubai debt crisis rocks U.S., Asia markets

  • World

    Piracy threatens fishermen in Yemen

Home » News » National

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Bush mulls troop pullout timeline

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

Democrats hail as a change of policy

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos
Please stand by, images loading!
  • ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Bush, with military personnel in Arizona, hopes to finalize a "general time horizon" with Iraq this month.
  • ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS
A U.S. soldier is silhouetted by the moon in Sebta, Iraq, on Friday. President Bush and the Iraqi government are negotiating for a "general time horizon" for reduction of U.S. troops. Leaving would be contingent on Iraq gaining the ability to self-govern, the White House has said.
  • Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for a hastening of the removal of U.S. troops.

More National Stories

  • Police to talk to Woods about accident
  • Atlantis, crew of 7 back on Earth
  • 4 dead after Thanksgiving shootout
  • Nation briefs

By Jon Ward

President Bush said Friday he will soon agree with the Iraqi government on a "general time horizon" for when U.S. troops will leave Iraq, a significant shift in White House policy that it said would nonetheless remain conditional based on events on the ground.

By the end of this month, the two governments hope to finalize an agreement that will allow U.S. troops to stay in Iraq into 2009 and will include what the White House described as goals for down the road, when more troops can come out.

"The president and the prime minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals — such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq," said White House press secretary Dana Perino in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

"The president and prime minister agreed that the goals would be based on continued improving conditions on the ground and not an arbitrary date for withdrawal," Mrs. Perino said.

Related story:Petraeus: Al-Qaeda may be easing effort in Iraq

Democrats, however, said the president was conceding their long-held position that the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.

"The Bush administration is finally facing reality," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden, Delaware Democrat.

"I welcome today's announcement that the president has reversed course and dropped his adamant opposition to a timeline for redeployment of American troops from Iraq," Mr. Biden said.

Gordon Johndroe, National Security Council spokesman, said the agreement is likely to include some specific dates for "conditions-based" further withdrawals from Iraq, and said he expects much of that agreement to be made public. There are about 140,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

The White House announcement came just as speculation swirled that Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was going to stop in Iraq this weekend for his second visit, and first since January 2006, to kick off his trip to the Middle East and Europe that begins Monday.

[Get Copyright Permissions] Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  3. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  4. Wife aids Woods after SUV crash
  5. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
More Top Stories »
  1. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  2. Grade-schooler unearths fossil at dinosaur park
  3. Robotic hamster holiday craze
  4. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  5. HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  2. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  3. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  4. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  5. University bubble bursting?
More Top Stories »
  1. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  2. Finance mavens gloomy
  3. Robotic hamster holiday craze
  4. The United Socialist States of America
  5. Dubai debt crisis rocks U.S., Asia markets

Most Commented

  1. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  4. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  5. Crashers probe may become criminal investigation
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  3. Fenty's approval in D.C. divided by race
  4. Ads add heat to health care debate
  5. HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

Are you planning to go shopping today?

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Hall out, Rogers will start

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.