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'Back off' on Iraq - Rumsfeld
27/10/2006 12:01 - (SA)
Washington - US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld says anybody demanding deadlines for progress in Iraq should "just back off", because it is too difficult to predict when Iraqis will be able to take control of their country.
During a Pentagon news conference on Thursday, an often-combative Rumsfeld said that while benchmarks for security, political and economic progress are valuable, "it's difficult. We're looking out into the future. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty".
He said the goals have no specific deadlines or consequences if they are not met by specific dates.
"You're looking for some sort of a guillotine to come falling down if some date isn't met," Rumsfeld told reporters. "That is not what this is about."
His comments came less than two weeks before an election for control of congress in which the Bush administration's conduct of the war has become a defining issue, with most of the country lining up in polls against the Bush administration's war strategy.
They also came two days after a timeline was announced by US officials in Baghdad that underscored strains that have emerged between leaders of the two countries.
- AP
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