bide their time

* "Conway said a deadline would embolden Iraqi insurgents to continue daily attacks and bide their time until U.S. troops left." link

heres why jonk could never be president. he couldnt make that statement without being tempted into rhetorical flourishes... he would have added, parenthetically, that, however, it could make sense, however, if, rather than relying on a deadline, we could draw up a phased withdrawal *plan*, with say 10 planned-but-contingent troop reductions, over the next 24 months. each reduction will be contingent on the perceived success of the previous reduction.
to demonstrate our good faith, we will make the first move and complete our first withdrawal of 10000 troops this week. our main concern is the iraqi people and this initiative is an attempt to bring peace via a new strategy, however we are willing to reverse the new strategy if it is seen to be not working. the first 10,000 amgrunts to leave will be stationed at a 'holding pen' 1000 miles from iraq in case they need to be recalled as a result of increased violence. in 30 days time, we will remove the second 10,000 amgrunts to the 1000km zone, so long as the situation on the ground justifies it - ie, so long as theres a 'general' sense that there has been an improvement on the ground. the main metrics that we will use are xyz. we will keep 20,000 troops in the 'holding pen', and they will return without hesitation if the situation on the ground deteriorates and our troops are required to help protect the iraqi people. this process will continue as per the attached schedule. if we happen to miss a withdrawal because the conditions on the ground arent improving, then we will immediately redeploy all of the departed amgrunts.

we offer this proposal to you in good faith - we dont wanna be here and u dont want us here. i once asked 'how do u ask the last man to die for a mistake?', too many iraqis and too many americans have already died. further to that good faith, we also ask that the iraqi govt officially 'invite' us as guests and sign on to our staged withdrawal plan. we have given the iraqi govt veto power over each of our proposed troop withdrawals."

i think i slipped outta character, but u get my point. jonk would never have said "a deadline would embolden Iraqi insurgents to continue daily attacks and bide their time until U.S. troops left."