Reply #26: maybe; maybe not ...

[welshTerrier2]

i see no basis to determine that Cegelis was necessarily providing any flexibility in her 12/31/06 target date ...

drawing this conclusion would require you to put more emphasis on the objective of training Iraqi troops than on the idea of "given bush a budget" and demanding that he stick to it ... i see no information in Cegelis's statement to lean either way ...

fwiw, it's what i see as the shortcoming of most of Senate Dems and Dean and Clark as well ... it's the "we can't just leave" school of let's hold bush accountable ... the problem is, there's never a deadline ... as bush fails and fails and fails, the war and occupation go on and on and on ... the problem is, there's never any accountability ...

for those of us who believe we will never succeed in Iraq and that the whole mess will end in civil war, the "flexible target dates", i.e., any plan without a "date certain" (even given the "uncertainties" of war), is nothing but a prescription for never-ending war ...

anyway, left undefined by my interpretation of what Cegelis said is whether she supports "flexible target dates" or whether she is providing a date certain after which all US troops should be out of Iraq ...