US to announce troop pull-out from Iraq

[echoes]

(Posted with permission.)

Have read posts here, from those far smarter than me, that say it is not a good idea to announce to the whole world a time & date of our departure?

Holly

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0...-1893-xml-atom

| 27.02.2009 | 08:00 UTC
US to announce troop pull-out from Iraq

"US President Barack Obama intends to pull American combat troops out of Iraq by August, 2010. Citing congressional officials, US media are reporting that Obama will make a public announcement from a military base later on Friday.

The plan would pull some 100,000 combat troops out of Iraq 19 months after the president took office, three months later than he promised during his campaign. There are currently 142,000 US soldiers stationed in Iraq.

The withdrawal would leave 35,000 to 50,000 support personnel in the country to advise Iraqi forces. Under an agreement signed with Baghdad last year, Washington agreed to pull its troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011."

[rubberneck]

What happened to six months? I wonder if anyone will ever bother to list all the promises he made and what he actually ended up doing. Every politician lies to get elected but the fact that he was never called on it still bothers me to no end. In this case he is doing the right thing but he got himself elected by promising otherwise.

[HOLLiS]

Still going to leave a estimate 35,000 to 50,000 troops. It is really no surprise, the plan has always been a Iraqi control Iraq.

I think this will all have a positive effect on A-Stan too. It is proof the US does not have some neocolonialist intention as outlined by the tangos.


Barry has made a lot of campaign promises that were open ended. One of his new statements was Gitmo being closed in a year. Why a year? If he was going to do it, it would have been done. Then Barry comes out and says those tangos held in A-Stan prisons are without any constitutional rights. Cuba and A-Stan share in the commonality, both are not US soil. Wouldn't that same statement apply to Gitmo too?

[abc_123]

Originally Posted by rubberneck

What happened to six months? I wonder if anyone will ever bother to list all the promises he made and what he actually ended up doing. Every politician lies to get elected but the fact that he was never called on it still bothers me to no end. In this case he is doing the right thing but he got himself elected by promising otherwise.

One site is:

removed URL - parked link

not sure how accurate it is. Use at your own risk.

[echoes]

Because this directly effects the safety of Our Brave Soldiers that are in harms way, I guess I was a little more angry at the current administration for doing this with Our Boots on the ground over there...

Maybe I am missing something?

Holly

[Richard]

MOO--but everyone's known this has been coming, this is not the same situation it was a couple of years ago, and sixteen months is not tomorrow...and if the bad guys are smart, they may not want to do anything that might make us change our minds and either stay longer or return.

Besides, we may need the troops to support the call to action from our next ambassador to Darfur--George Clooney.

Richard's $.02

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by echoes

Because this directly effects the safety of Our Brave Soldiers that are in harms way, I guess I was a little more angry at the current administration for doing this with Our Boots on the ground over there...

Maybe I am missing something?

Holly

Nineteen months is a long time and a lot can change. Who knows -- maybe the bad guys will see this and try to fake us out by being really quiet and good. Nineteen months is a long time. Maybe, with the bad guys being quiet, and at least 'not bad', things will get better. Maybe the bad guys will get bored and get jobs, maybe everyone will like that it's 'not bad'.
In any case it's not like during WWII, we don't have to worry about ships being torpedo'd.
But, Nineteen months is a VERY long time. . .

[csquare]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

Who knows -- maybe the bad guys will see this and try to fake us out by being really quiet and good. Maybe, with the bad guys being quiet, and at least 'not bad', things will get better. Maybe the bad guys will get bored and get jobs, maybe everyone will like that it's 'not bad'.
.

I doubt "they" will stop and hangout at home drinking caj, stockpiling weapons and ammo. If they were that smart, they would had stop when "W" said "we'll leave when the country is at peace". And we would had left a couple of years ago.

True, 19 months is a long time and this appeases the peaceniks, until he decides that any pull-out will or has to be extended, another 6-12-18 months, for contingencies.

[stuW]

Are their potential lessons or comparisons that can be drawn from Israel's method of withdrawing from Gaza?