12/10/2000
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu...
"We shouldn't set a deadline before these parliamentary elections."
"The question is, what's now best for the American people, for the war on terror, and for the people of Iraq, and the stability of the Middle East?"
"It is a national security issue."
"We don't want to set a fixed timetable, if that led to chaos, the establishment of permanent terrorist operations in the Sunni section of Iraq, and long-term greater instability in the Middle East."