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Article: ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 24 - No Ultimatums For Iraq, Rumsfeld Says.(Donald Rumsfeld)
- Article from:
- APS Diplomat Recorder
- Article date:
- October 28, 2006
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Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a combative briefing, says that the US plans no penalties if the Iraqi government fails to meet the benchmarks or deadlines for progress that the Bush administration says the two governments have been formulating. It is "perfectly logical" for the governments to discuss the best way forward, he said, then rhetorically asked a reporter: When might something happen? It isn't a date and it isn't a penalty if it doesn't" happen. "You're trying to add a degree of formality and finality and punishment" that are not there, he said. The insistence on well-defined, public benchmarks, he said, was becoming "a political football". The ...