Maliki not completely on board with Bush time horizons

You remember the episode of the Simpsons called "Cape Feare", where the Simpson family has to go into the witness relocation program to hide from Sideshow Bob? Wait don't leave, I'm an adult. So there's this scene where they try to get Homer to answer to his new last name. It gets to the point where exasperated agents are stomping on Homer's foot while yelling "Hello, Mr. Thompson," just to get Homer to acknowledge they are talking to him.

What does that have to do with anything? It's what Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been doing for the past month in regards to troop withdrawal. He's stomping on Bush's foot, yelling "Hello, Mr. Thompson" and getting no response.

Maliki wants US troops out in their entirety by 2011 at the latest, with hard conditions and timetables. Bush wants vague "time horzons" with ill defined conditions, unspecific language, and no real intent to leave on any kind of schedule.

"There can be no treaty or agreement except on the basis of Iraq's full sovereignty," al-Maliki told a gathering of Shiite tribal sheiks. He said an accord must be based on the principle that "no foreign soldier remains in Iraq after a specific deadline, not an open time frame."
...
"We find this to be too vague," a close al-Maliki aide told The Associated Press on Monday. "We don't want the phrase 'time horizons.' We are not comfortable with that phrase," said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

Another top al-Maliki aide, also speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said the Iraqi government had "stopped talking about the withdrawal of combat troops. We just talk about withdrawals," including trainers and logistics troops.

I don't think he's getting it Nouri, stomp harder.