Secretary of Defense Gates talks smack in Iraq:
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Baghdad on Thursday to convey a blunt message to Iraq's leadership three months after the United States began an increase of more than 28,000 troops in the country. "The clock is ticking," he said.
Gates said he will urge Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other leaders in meetings Friday to act more quickly and boldly to achieve reconciliation between the majority Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political factions -- warning that U.S. troops will not remain in the country indefinitely.
"The Iraqis have to know that this isn't an open-ended commitment," Gates told reporters traveling with him Thursday, emphasizing that he does not intend to be subtle in meetings with Maliki and others.
How can a commitment not be open ended if it doesn't have an ending? A "ticking clock" metaphor also only works if there is some sort of deadline. Gates isn't planning to be "subtle," but he isn't bringing much credible pressure, either. After all, wouldn't want to be "defeatist," would we, like that awful Harry Reid?
Unless of course Gates is using time as a metaphor in a Beckettian sense...
GATES:(advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart) All my life I've tried to put it from me, saying Gates, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything. And I resumed the struggle. (He broods, musing on the struggle.)
