Gates Signals Afghanistan Withdrawal Date Could Move

President Obama never ceases to shock us. Obama is now disputing Secretary of Defense Gates on the timetable and basically saying it it etched in stone when we withdraw. Talk about telegraphing your plans -- Obama just gave a perfect example.

UPDATE: McChrystal: The 2011 timetable isn’t set in stone; Obama: Actually, it is Hot Air
December 2, 2009
Allahpundit

"The 18-month timeline … is not absolute. It’s not an 18 months: everybody leaves. The president has expressed on numerous occasions a long-term strategic partnership with Afghanistan, and that includes all manners of assistance,” McChrystal said…

Just as I’m writing this, CBS is reporting that The One responded tonight to Gates’s ambivalence at this morning’s Senate hearing by declaring that 2011 is “locked in” as the starting date for withdrawal. Er, does McChrystal know that?

Looks to us like Obama should have vetted his Afghanistan speech he gave at the Military Academy before giving it to the cadets. Senator McCain nailed this Administration with his question of which is more important -- timeline or withdrawal.

This is beginning to look more and more like Vietnam where the LBJ White House controlled what happened on the ground, and we all know how that ended. Huge mistake to elect anyone with no experience and then to get someone like Obama who surrounds himself with the same type people. Even Bill Clinton put a finger in the wind to see which way it was blowing before making a decision which is a step up from Obama.

Gates Signals Afghanistan Withdrawal Date Could Move
FoxNews
December 02, 2009

The Pentagon will "evaluate" next year whether the military can meet its goal of starting to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by July 2011, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday under tough questioning, signaling that the withdrawal date could move back if violence spirals out of control.

President Obama said in announcing the timeline Tuesday night that the withdrawal would be based on conditions on the ground. But Sen. John McCain pressed Gates on Capitol Hill, calling the scenario "logically incoherent" and saying the national security team needs to choose which is more important: sticking to the timeline or providing security.

Gates said U.S. forces should be able to move out of "uncontested areas" by the summer of 2011 but that the United States would not transfer security responsibility to the Afghans in any province until they can stand up on their own. He said the security team would review the situation at the end of 2010 to see whether the military "can meet that objective" with regard to the timeline.

"If it appears that the strategy's not working and that we are...

Excerpt: Read more at foxnews.com