Reply #2: Washington shrugs off Putin's call for Iraq pullout timetable

[sabra]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/washington-shrugs-off-putins-call-for-iraq-pullout-timetable/2005/08/19/1124435141727.html?oneclick=true

Washington shrugs off Putin's call for Iraq pullout timetable
August 20, 2005

Sochi, Russia: President Vladimir Putin of Russia has called for an international conference on Iraq by the end of the year and a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops, saying many Iraqis considered them occupying forces.

"We consider that holding an international conference this year would give a new impulse to the normalisation of the situation" in Iraq, Mr Putin said on Thursday following talks with King Abdullah of Jordan.

"We deem it necessary to work out a schedule for the staged withdrawal of foreign troops," he said. "Many Iraqis perceive these forces as occupying forces, and this is a reality that should be taken into account."

....

His latest proposals were greeted no more warmly on Thursday. The State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, echoed President George Bush's refusal to lay out a calendar for withdrawing the 138,000 US troops battling an insurgency 28 months after the removal of Saddam Hussein.