(June 28, 2006)--Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is rejecting any proposed timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"The president's view has been and remains that a timetable is not something that is useful,” Rumsfeld said Wednesday at a joint news conference at the Pentagon with Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson.

“It is a signal to the enemies that all you have to do is just wait and it's yours,” he said.

Rumsfeld said he had not seen media reports that 11 Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq had offered an immediate end to attacks if the U.S. promised a full withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq within 2 years.

But Rumsfeld said there would likely be some sort of a reconciliation process in
Iraq.

"It is in everybody's interest that there be some sort of a reconciliation process in that country. Now, it's easier to say that than to do it. But the prime minister has launched it. He has opened
that subject up for discussion, debate. And I'm sure that their parliament and the various interested parties in the country will engage it,” he said.

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