There should be a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, but not on a specific timetable and not precipitously.
And along these lines, as the president mentioned, my national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, will be visiting in Moscow, the purpose of which is to lay out a specific timetable of discussions between our defense ministers and our foreign ministers.
Because of this, the government added the second rule, with a specific timetable, to try to stop it being accused of kicking the problem down the road.
In hindsight, it was a mistake — an understandable one, given the nature of the media and of Presidential politics today — for Obama to offer such a specific timetable.
A senior official from a close American ally said that it was possible that the resolution on post-war Iraq could be agreed upon as early as next week, and that it might include a specific timetable for the transfer of authority to the Iraqis.
Binyamin Netanyahu, on the excuse that the plan did not contain a specific timetable for the arrest of 30 "wanted" men over the next 12 weeks (Yasser Arafat says that 12 of these suspects have been arrested already), delayed presenting the accord to his cabinet until November 5th.
Yukos, which is facing a $3.4 billion back-tax claim, has warned of insolvency before, but until now has not laid out a specific timetable.
Each province, city or district should make a specific timetable based on local conditions," Wang Peian, vice minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, was quoted as telling the official New China News Agency over the weekend.
