General Petraeus does not want a timetable

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Obama:

[T]here is no doubt that security has improved. And there's no doubt that the extraordinary sacrifices of American men and women in uniform have contributed to that success. In terms of, my conversations with General Petraeus, there's no doubt that General Petraeus does not want a timetable. I think he has said that publicly. And he is, and as I said, in his role, he wants maximum flexibility to be able to do what he believes needs to be done inside of Iraq. But keep in mind, for example, one of General Petraeus's responsibilities is not to think about how could we be spending some of that $10 billion a month to shore up a U.S. economy that is really hurting right now? If I'm President of the United States, that is part of my responsibility.

Sorry, General. Your concerns about flexibility to secure what we've gained by the surge will have to take a back seat to President Obama's spending priorities.

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