Petraeus: al-Maliki wants ‘time horizons,’ not timetables

The top American commander in Iraq is downplaying recent comments by Nouri al-Maliki on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, claiming that the Iraqi prime minister wants “time horizons,” not timetables.

During an interview that aired Friday on MSNBC, Gen. David Petraeus cast al-Maliki’s growing assertiveness on the presence of US. troops as a positive sign of the government’s sovereignty while lauding Iraq’s improved military ability. But Petraeus indicated that doesn’t necessarily mean American troops will be able to leave by the end of next year, a goal many Democratic lawmakers favor.

{mosads}“Again, what [al-Maliki] has said is not a timeline or a timetable. He said time horizons, which, again, we think that there's nothing wrong with talking about time horizons,” said Petraeus.

He added that the feasibility of withdrawing U.S. troops in 16 months would depend on conditions that could not be forecast with much certainty.

“It depends on the conditions, depends on the mission set, depends on the — the enemy,” said Petraeus when asked about withdrawing troops by December of next year. “The enemy does get a vote and is sometimes an independent variable.”

However, Petraeus also said the improved capability of the Iraqi forces means there is less risk of chaos if the U.S. departs. He asserted the Iraqi government can now respond to erupting violence in ways that were not possible a year ago.

The growing competence of the Iraqi military may save the U.S. from having to step up its force presence after withdrawals have begun.

“And we're at a situation where the Iraqis, in fact, are able to move their forces around. We saw them deploy a division's worth of forces to Basra within the space of less than a week,” according to Petraeus.

“So I think that the Iraqis now have options that were not available in the past when there were troubles, and that would obviously be the — be the preferable one.

“He is understandably and rightly endeavoring to show that this is an Iraq with a sovereign Iraqi government making sovereign decisions and discussing time horizons, which is the term that has been used, aspirations of those,” he said of al-Maliki.