President Obama Takes the Middle Road on Iraq Troop Drawdown
James Phillips /
Today President Barack Obama unveiled his Iraq policy in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He announced that he will pull out U.S. combat forces by the end of August 2010, but will retain a “transitional force” of 35,000 to 50,000 personnel (compared to the 142,000 there now) that will pursue a “new strategy” of undertaking a gradual transition to full Iraqi responsibility.
This “new strategy” appears to be similar to the Bush Administration plans for Iraq in many respects, although the pace of troop withdrawals may be accelerated and is likely to be determined more by political considerations in Washington than by military conditions on the ground in Iraq, which is a strong reason for concern. But both Administrations set a goal of withdrawing all U.S. troops by the end of 2011, in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement, although it is likely that the Iraqis will request an extension of this overly ambitious deadline.
President Obama reportedly was presented several weeks ago with three options for target dates for pulling out combat troops: 16 months, 19 months, and 23 months. He chose the middle option, which was three months longer than his campaign pledge to pull all combat troops out within 16 months of his inauguration.