Mystifying

While doing research at work yesterday, I came across the following quote from an article in Joint Force Quarterly, a military journal, dated October 2004:

Indeed, it is notable that the current Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, has registered his reluctance to commit military assets to aid civilian authorities without a clear exit strategy.

Now, I can understand the logic of this. You don't want the military to be indefinitely committed to doing cleanup work after disasters. But the thing I can't figure - and I mean this honestly - is, did the same standard apply in Iraq? After three-and-a-half years, I still can't figure out what Rumsfeld's exit strategy in Iraq was, or is, or will be.