Little-Acorn
02-27-2009, 07:15 PM
In a sharp departure from his campaign rhetoric calling for getting our troops out of Iraq completely and quickly, President Obama announced today that the troops will remain for many more years.
In a strangely contradictory statement, Obama announced that "combat troops will be withdrawn by Aug. 31, 2010". And then almost in the same breath, he said that half the present U.S. troop levels, would stay there, up to 50,000 of the approx. 100,000 presently there. Some wondered if the "combat troops" distinction meant anything, if the troops remaining got attacked afterward by insurgents. A suggestion that they were sure to be free from attack, drew amused chuckles.
Perhaps he was for withdrawing the troops before he was against it.
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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/62930.html
Obama to extend Iraq withdrawal timetable; 50,000 troops to stay
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
Feb. 27, 2009
WASHINGTON — Amid complaints from has own party that he's moving too slowly to end the war in Iraq, President Barack Obama will announce Friday that U.S. combat troops will be withdrawn by Aug. 31, 2010, but that as many as 50,000 Marines and soldiers would remain until the end of 2011.
Obama will announce his plans during a visit with troops at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he'll also visit with Marines who are being deployed to Afghanistan, senior administration officials said.
As he moves to draw down the war in Iraq after six years and more than 4,200 U.S. dead, he's also moving to escalate the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
The 18-month timetable for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq is two months longer than he promised during his campaign. Aides who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak frankly said that military commanders wanted the extra time. "The president found that compelling," said one senior administration official.
The pace of the drawdown will be left to commanders and determined by events on the ground as well as politics in Washington. Although U.S. and Iraqi casualties have dropped sharply, and recent provincial elections were held without major incidents, it's not clear whether Iraq's rival factions and their militias have abandoned violence or are merely biding their time.
In a strangely contradictory statement, Obama announced that "combat troops will be withdrawn by Aug. 31, 2010". And then almost in the same breath, he said that half the present U.S. troop levels, would stay there, up to 50,000 of the approx. 100,000 presently there. Some wondered if the "combat troops" distinction meant anything, if the troops remaining got attacked afterward by insurgents. A suggestion that they were sure to be free from attack, drew amused chuckles.
Perhaps he was for withdrawing the troops before he was against it.
------------------------------------------
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/62930.html
Obama to extend Iraq withdrawal timetable; 50,000 troops to stay
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
Feb. 27, 2009
WASHINGTON — Amid complaints from has own party that he's moving too slowly to end the war in Iraq, President Barack Obama will announce Friday that U.S. combat troops will be withdrawn by Aug. 31, 2010, but that as many as 50,000 Marines and soldiers would remain until the end of 2011.
Obama will announce his plans during a visit with troops at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he'll also visit with Marines who are being deployed to Afghanistan, senior administration officials said.
As he moves to draw down the war in Iraq after six years and more than 4,200 U.S. dead, he's also moving to escalate the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
The 18-month timetable for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq is two months longer than he promised during his campaign. Aides who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak frankly said that military commanders wanted the extra time. "The president found that compelling," said one senior administration official.
The pace of the drawdown will be left to commanders and determined by events on the ground as well as politics in Washington. Although U.S. and Iraqi casualties have dropped sharply, and recent provincial elections were held without major incidents, it's not clear whether Iraq's rival factions and their militias have abandoned violence or are merely biding their time.