Mission soon to be declared accomplished

What a difference a month makes.

WASHINGTON (AP) [June 24, 2005] — Despite growing anxiety about the war in Iraq, President Bush refused to set a timetable Friday for bringing home U.S. troops and declared, "I'm not giving up on the mission. We're doing the right thing."

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, with Bush at a White House news conference, expressed gratitude for the heavy U.S. sacrifice in Iraq — the deaths of at least 1,730 members of the military.

A timetable, of course, would only encourage the terrorists.

BAGHDAD, July 27 -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and the top U.S. commander in Iraq Wednesday and discussed specific steps to speed preparations for the withdrawal of some of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq beginning as early as next spring.

The tone of statements by Rumsfeld and Jafari, as well as the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, suggested a heightened urgency to planning for the U.S. troop reduction, despite the continuation of lethal daily attacks by insurgents in Iraq.

"The great desire of the Iraqi people is to see the coalition forces be on their way out as they take more responsibility," Jafari said at a press conference with Rumsfeld following their noon meeting in Baghdad. "We have not limited to a certain schedule, but we confirm and we desire speed in that regard."

This will require "picking up the pace of training Iraqi forces" as well as carefully synchronizing the U.S. withdrawal as Iraqi forces take charge of different parts of the country, Jafari said.

Casey also voiced confidence before meeting with Jafari that the United States will be able to begin reducing its force levels in Iraq next spring or summer.

But then, what's all this?

Rumsfeld also said U.S. military lawyers have been working for months to set in place new legal arrangements to govern the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after a new government takes over following elections. The agreement could take the form of an extension of the current United Nations resolution regarding U.S. troops in Iraq, or involve a bilateral "status of forces" agreement that provides legal protections for American forces in foreign countries. [emphasis mine]

Imperial dreams die hard. Lies and obfuscations are their life support.