On the difference between a "time-limit" and "the concept of a time-limit"

The GreenZone newspaper AlSabaah continues this morning the exercise of putting a tough image on the government's stance respecting American troop withdrawal. Bearing in mind the comments by various politicians quoted by AlHayat (see prior post), let's take a look at the AlSabaah version this morning, starting with the headline:

The government proposes the concept of American withdrawal from Iraq within five years: Washington hopes to arrive at an agreement with Baghdad for a SOFA: Baghdad--AlSabaah. Informed sources said the government proposed to Washington a temporal upper-limit for the withdrawal of the American forces from Iraq within five years, in negotiations for a SOFA agreement for security cooperation. The government stressed that any future bilateral agreement with the United States will have to include a final deadline for the withdrawal of the American and allied forces. And the government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said: "Any schedule for the withdrawal of forces will be subject to the circumstances and conditions the country will experience," however he stressed that the withdrawal of the allied forces will be within three or four or five years."

He explained that the government does not have a defined time-limit, but he stressed the necessity of an agreement on the principle of setting a final time-limit. And he explained in a press statement that differences respecting American bases, and the authority that will be enjoyed by those forces, are what are standing in the way of the American administration's aim of securing an agreement by the end of July.

There you have it. The Maliki administration has proposed the concept of a time-limit for the withdrawal, but when they say "proposed the concept" they don't mean they have proposed including an actual time limit, only that the have proposed including the concept of a time-limit.

So although the rhetoric remains, in fact it seems pretty clear that the government has already caved in on the time-limit demand, if in fact there ever was one, and the issues now waiting to be caved-in on are those respecting American bases and the authority for the American forces to continue operating in Iraq as they have been doing.