Soooo.... we learn today via AP:
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates landed in Baghdad on Thursday to deliver a sharp message to Iraqi political leaders: <bold>The U.S. military's commitment to the war is not open-ended.</bold>
"The clock is ticking," Gates told reporters, saying he will warn Iraqi officials that they must move faster on political reconciliation. "I know it's difficult, and clearly the attack on the council of representatives has made people nervous, but I think that it's very important that they bend every effort to getting this legislation done as quickly as possible."
::Please jump!::
That's interesting, because I thought that suggesting some end-date for the occupation was counter to the administration's foreign policy. I mean, not even a deci-Friedman ago, Pelosi was in the Middle East, purportedly countering the administration's stance, and here is what the press had to say about her:
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's scheduled visit to Syria tomorrow drew strong criticism again from the White House today"
"It sends the wrong message to have high level U.S. officials go over there to have photo opportunities that Assad"
"An apparently botched message during a widely discouraged visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Syria this week has U.S. officials criticizing rogue efforts at diplomacy among U.S. politicians."
So who is going to be the lone intrepid reporter who has the guts to stand up to the president by calling Gates a "rogue" or sending a "botched message" or for staging "photo opportunities"? Oh yeah ... fiction, I forgot.