As for the 16-month goal, Mr. Gates said, “I’m less concerned about that timetable.”

“He repeated his desire to try and get our combat forces out within 16 months,” Mr. Gates acknowledged. “But he also said that he wanted to have a responsible drawdown, and he also said that he was prepared to listen to his commanders. So I think that that’s exactly the position a president-elect should be in.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/washington/02cnd-gates.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Mr. Gates also noted that, since the election, the United States and Iraq have reached a strategic-and-security accord calling for the complete withdrawal of American forces within three years. As for the 16-month goal, Mr. Gates said, “I’m less concerned about that timetable.”

Mr. Gates emphasized that despite his status as the first defense secretary to be asked to stay on by a successor to the president who appointed him — Republican and Democrat alike — he had no intention of being a “caretaker.”

“Our challenges, from the budget to acquisition and procurement reform, war strategy, care of wounded warriors, meeting the needs of war-fighters, decisions on important modernization and capitalization projects and more, all demand the personal attention of the secretary of defense,” Mr. Gates said, “and they will get it.”

Mr. Gates left open the possibility that his stay at the Pentagon might be longer than expected, given his holdover status. “The president-elect and I agreed that this would be open-ended, and so there is no time frame,” Mr. Gates said.

Questions about possible friction between Mr. Gates and Mr. Obama over the timing of a troop withdrawals from Iraq were all but inevitable, since President Bush — who replaced Donald H. Rumsfeld with Mr. Gates as defense secretary two years ago — argued consistently against setting strict timetables.

Mr. Gates said he would not have minded leaving the Pentagon, but “with the country fighting two wars and our men and women in uniform at risk, if a president asks me to help, there’s no way I can say no.”