1115.org

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on January 11:

The increase in military forces will be phased in. It will not unfold overnight. There will be no D-Day. It won’t look like the Gulf War. The timetable for the introduction of additional U.S. forces will provide ample opportunity early on and before many of the additional U.S. troops actually arrive in Iraq to evaluate the progress of this endeavor and whether the Iraqis are fulfilling their commitments to us.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on January 26:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that … the Pentagon was now studying whether it could accelerate the deployment of the five additional Army brigades that it has announced will be sent to Baghdad between now and May to bolster security in the capital.
[...]
“There some simply logistical constraints that make it difficult to do a lot” of acceleration, he said. “But I have asked people to look at it and see to what extent they could be — or some portion of it — accelerated.”

We must have been having a whole lot of fun the last 15 days, because that window of ample opportunity just flew by, didn’t it?