Stop the Press!

Pentagon press release:

Asked if a U.S. troop reduction in Iraq could come by the year’s end, Gates said it’s too soon to know for sure, or how large that reduction might be.

But it's certainly accurate.

CNN:

BLITZER: But realistically, that 160,000 troops -- it was 130, you raised it by about 30,000 as part of this strategy, 160. When do you think you'll be able to start drawing that number down?

GATES: Well, I think we'll have to wait for the evaluation from Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus and their recommendation on that score before we're in a position to say.

BLITZER: So you're not working under any assumptions right now? You're just going to hold off making those decisions?

GATES: We're doing contingency planning on a lot of different possibilities. We intend to be in a position to execute whatever decisions the president makes.

MR. RUSSERT: Back in February you were before the Senate Armed Services Committee and Robert Byrd asked you this question: “How much longer do you think we’re going to be in Iraq before we begin to bring our people home?”

And Secretary Gates said, “It seems to me that if the plan to quiet Baghdad is successful and the Iraqis step up, accept their responsibilities, and successfully assume the leadership in trying to establish order and then carry out their political reconciliation process, I would hope that” we’d “be able to begin drawing down our troops later this year.” That would be the end of ‘07. Do you stand by that timetable?

SEC’Y GATES: Well, I think what we have to wait for now is the report from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker and for the president to make that judgment.

MR. RUSSERT: Is there a possibility we could draw down troops by the end of this year?

SEC’Y GATES: A possibility.

MR. RUSSERT: A good possibility?

SEC’Y GATES: There is a possibility.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you bet on it?

SEC’Y GATES: I think I’d just leave it at that.

Now watch the media work it's magic.

The Washington Times:

Gates Sees Chance For Troop Reduction This Year

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that U.S. forces could begin withdrawing from Iraq by the end of the year, depending on the results of a September report from the senior military commander in Iraq.

Iraqi Bumbling Kills Hopes For U.S. Pullback, Sez Gates

Prospects for a modest U.S. troop pullback by year's end have been doomed by the Iraqi government's failure to get its political act together, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates strongly hinted yesterday.