Call it “macaroni”

or a “Time Horizon” or a “Aspirational Goal.”

Bush, Maliki Agree on ‘Time Horizon’ for U.S. Troop Withdrawals

President Bush and Iraq’s prime minister have agreed to set a “time horizon” for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq as security conditions in the war-ravaged nation continue to improve, White House officials said here Friday.

The agreement, reached during a video conference Thursday between Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, marks a dramatic shift for the Bush administration, which for years has condemned any talk of timetables for withdrawal.

But Maliki and other Iraqi leaders in recent weeks have begun demanding firm withdrawal deadlines from the United States. Bush said earlier this week that he opposes “arbitrary” timetables but was open to setting an “aspirational goal” for moving U.S. troops to a support role.

Call it whatever mealy-mouthed crap you want to, W. You can even pretend it’s not a reversal of 5 years of “no timetable” policy.

Here’s the White House Press Release, which appears in parts to have been translated from English into gobbledegook:

In the area of security cooperation, the President and the Prime Minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals — such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.

Got that? It is so NOT a timeline — it’s a “general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals.”