The negotations between the State Dept. and the Iraqi government about further U.S. presence in Iraq shows who Washington considers the most revered government employees. The Washington Post’s Sudarsen Raghavan and Karen DeYoung report that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wants a timetable for when U.S. troops will be out. But the State Dept., a Pentagon spokesman, and both major presidential candidates oppose a timetable that goes against the consultation of commanders on the ground.

This raises a number of questions that should be asked while the negotiations continue. Does the prevailing U.S. political position reflect a real admiration of ground commanders’ judgment, or a way of passing on responsibility? Do the ground commanders have the ability or inclination to go against President Bush, who fiercely opposes timetables?

And what does Secretary of Defense Robert Gates think of all this? Gates is not publicly for a timetable. But unlike Bush and David Petraeus, he’d like more troops out of Iraq now (and moved to Afghanistan).-MB

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