Chris Murphy: “I want to read it one more time. Secretary Gates. "The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable…”

“I want to read it one more time. Secretary Gates. "The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably have had a positive impact in terms of communicating to the Iraqis this is not an open ended commitment." I mean, that's worth saying again, because for all the rhetoric that we get about what we are doing here and what kind of impact it has in Iraq, we have our Secretary of Defense telling us exactly what has been our intuition for years; that the only way, Mr. Altmire, just like you said, the only way for us to exert any pressure on the Iraqis to stand up for themselves, to get their military shop in order, to get their civil shop in order, to get their political stop in order, is to tell them that we are not going to be the crutch that they can rely on in the long run.”