For first time, Bush agrees to 'time horizon' for Iraq pullout

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BY WARREN P. STROBEL / McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The United States and Iraq have agreed to a “general time horizon” for further reductions of U.S. combat troops in Iraq, the White House said Friday, the first time the Bush administration has agreed to set any kind of timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals.

President Bush has bitterly opposed any timetable for troop withdrawals from Iraq in the past, vetoing bills favored by Democrats in Congress that included such measures.

The new agreement was announced after talks this week between Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

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President Bush

President Bush

U.S. officials said the language was a concession to Maliki, whose increasingly confident government has been demanding commitments on troop withdrawals in ongoing negotiations over a permanent U.S.-Iraq security agreement.

The statement did not contain any specifics on the date or size of any further troop reductions, and it is not clear whether the final agreement will do so.

White House officials insisted that the language on troop reductions was different from proposals made by congressional Democrats and their allies.

“There’s a substantial difference between what they proposed months ago about arbitrary withdrawal dates ... versus setting aspirational goals that are still based on conditions on the ground,” said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to withdraw troops from Iraq.”

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, in a speech earlier this week, reaffirmed his pledge to remove U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes said the White House announcement “is another indication that the administration is moving toward Senator Obama’s position on negotiating the removal of our forces as a part of our ongoing discussions with the Iraq government.”

“We continue to believe, though, that a timetable will press the Iraqis to step up to their responsibilities,” Rhodes said.

McClatchy Newspapers correspondent Margaret Talev in Washington contributed to this report.