Obama Announces Iraq Troop Withdrawal

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Obama Announces Iraq Troop Withdrawal
Topic Started: Feb 28 2009, 03:41 AM (170 Views)
Sayf Udeen Ismaeel	Feb 28 2009, 03:41 AM Post #1
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ Posts: 7,579 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: May 2, 2008 Gender Male Religious Views Muslim Political View All over the shop.	Obama Announces Iraq Troop Withdrawal President Barack Obama has announced the end of US combat operations in Iraq, saying that a major troop drawdown would be in effect by August 31, 2010. Obama's withdrawal proclamation at Marine Corps base at Camp LeJeune comes after weeks of discussions with top military commanders. He also named veteran diplomat, Christopher Hill as the new US ambassador to Iraq. Explaining his policy thrust toward the Middle East, Obama said he is, "Going forward, the United States will pursue principled and sustained engagement with all of the nations in the region, and that will include Iran and Syria." Some Democrats are concerned that the date falls short of his election pledges, which is the biggest limitation Obama faces on Iraq. The agreement between Baghdad and Washington signed before he took office, requires that all US forces depart the country by the end of 2011. Obama also said 35,000 to 50,000 of the 142,000 troops now in Iraq would stay after that date to advise Iraqi forces, target terror potentials and to protect US interests. No mention was made of how long this force would remain in place. He praised the progress made but said, "Iraq is not yet secure, and there will be difficult days ahead." Obama had phoned the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to brief him on his newly announced Iraq troop pullout plan, the White House said but gave no details of the conversation. Deeply unpopular former president George W. Bush still maintains the invasion was the right decision, and said that opinion polls are indecisive, that history will excuse him if Iraq emerges as a possible pro-Western democratic state. But, for now, surveys show the US public fiercely rejects the war six years after it began, with 60 percent saying it was 'not worth it,' according to an ABC television poll released last week. In March 19, 2003, public opinion was just the opposite, with two-out-of-three Americans favoring Bush's war to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Up to now, the United States has spent USD 687b on the war in Iraq, and another USD 184b in Afghanistan, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank in Washington. Some outside calculations say the Iraq conflict has cost more than one trillion dollars. The war has had other, less solid, but potentially painful costs: the decline of Americans' trust in government bodies and the support of the United States among traditional allies and sharp decline in respect across the Muslim world. Hence the Obama pullout plan is imperative for the new administration. http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86994&sectionid=3510203



Sayf Udeen Ismaeel	Feb 28 2009, 03:44 AM Post #2
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ Posts: 7,579 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: May 2, 2008 Gender Male Religious Views Muslim Political View All over the shop.	US Combat Missions in Iraq Will Continue After 'Pullout' Just one day after reports came out regarding the Obama Administration’s 19 month withdrawal plan from Iraq, the Pentagon was detailing the enormous number of troops that would remain on the ground after Obama ostensibly fulfills his promise to remove all combat troops, and all the combat they’ll be engaging in. After the “pullout,” as many as 50,000 troops will remain on the ground, and despite being touted as a withdrawal of combat troops, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell conceded that some would continue to “conduct combat operations,” and Iraq would still be considered a war zone. The rest would be what he described as “enablers.” President Obama promised a 16-month pullout from Iraq during the campaign, but backed off the promise under pressure from the military. Since then he has spoken of a “responsible military drawdown,” but even as he is set to officially unveil this new plan the question of when the troops will actually be out of Iraq entirely seems like it will remain unanswered. http://news.antiwar.com/2009/02/25/us-combat-missions-in-iraq-will-continue-after-pullout/



skinny_bones4	Feb 28 2009, 06:30 PM Post #3
Posts: 10 Group: Members Member #559 Joined: Feb 28, 2009 Gender Male Religious Views Christian Political View Democrat	It all seems more complex than they make it.



Redneck	Mar 2 2009, 08:30 PM Post #4
Posts: 264 Group: Members Member #48 Joined: May 25, 2008 Gender Male Political View Liberal Facist	Not really as complicated as it could be. This is a relatively straight forward plan compared to many that were being floated around. As for combat missions, I hope things continue in the path they are going right now in Iraq with things begining to settle down and thus fewer and fewer of those. I expect the US to have some sort of prescence there for the forseeible future.



Sayf Udeen Ismaeel	Mar 3 2009, 07:44 AM Post #5
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ Posts: 7,579 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: May 2, 2008 Gender Male Religious Views Muslim Political View All over the shop.	Redneck Mar 2 2009, 08:30 PM I expect the US to have some sort of prescence there for the forseeible future. Well the mission was apparently "accomplished" on May 1^st 2003.



Sayf Udeen Ismaeel	Mar 8 2009, 03:42 PM Post #6
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ Posts: 7,579 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: May 2, 2008 Gender Male Religious Views Muslim Political View All over the shop.	US accelerates Iraq exit THE United States will pull 12,000 troops out of Iraq by the end of September in an acceleration of the US withdrawal, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said. "We have agreed that a total of 12,000 US troops will be withdrawn by the end of September 2009,'' he said. "In addition, 4000 British troops will withdraw in July 2009 according to an agreement between the United Kingdom and Iraq,'' Mr Dabbagh said alongside coalition forces spokesman Major General David Perkins of the US army.



Dante	Mar 8 2009, 04:48 PM Post #7
Posts: 31 Group: Members Member #116 Joined: Jul 23, 2008 Gender Male Religious Views Agnostic Political View Extreme Liberal	It is kind of irritating how he isn't doing it how he promised and troops are going to remain there, but that is pretty much how I expected it. He was just telling people what they wanted to hear.



asiAnihc	Mar 8 2009, 11:45 PM Post #8
azn mafia Posts: 1,572 Group: Members Member #444 Joined: Dec 21, 2008 Gender Male	Dante Mar 8 2009, 04:48 PM It is kind of irritating how he isn't doing it how he promised and troops are going to remain there, but that is pretty much how I expected it. He was just telling people what they wanted to hear. That's politics for ya, no?



Redneck	Mar 12 2009, 05:30 PM Post #9
Posts: 264 Group: Members Member #48 Joined: May 25, 2008 Gender Male Political View Liberal Facist	I think he understands the situation better. The president is going to get a lot more indepth detail about what is going on there than a Senator would. It's easy for people to say "we gotta get out of there" but it's a whole lot different to actually look at the scenarios to get out of there. Quote: Well the mission was apparently "accomplished" on May 1st 2003. Yes and God speaks to George W Bush too.



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