Obama weighs 23-month Iraq withdrawal option

[unhappycamper]

Source: Navy Times

Obama weighs 23-month Iraq withdrawal option
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 18:10:49 EST

WASHINGTON — Two officials say the White House is considering at least two troop withdrawal options for Iraq. One would preserve President Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to get out within 16 months, and another would keep some combat forces there until the end of 2010.

A third in-between option of 19 months is also being weighed, according to the officials, who wouldn’t discuss the sensitive topic without being granted anonymity. One official said the main focus appears to be on the 16-month and 23-month options; 23 months would run to the end of 2010.

Under either timeline, the U.S. would hope to leave behind a number of brigades that would be reconfigured as multipurpose units to provide training for Iraqi security forces, one official said.

Read more: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_iraq_withdrawal_020609/%2e

[Demeter]

1. Let's Compromise In the Middle--I give Obama 2 to 3 Months to Withdraw

We wouldn't want to reneg on the promises you made, after all!

[Solly Mack]

2. ....

...

Talk should get good in my community

[tekisui]

3. Everyone in the country should be trained by now.

We need to GET THE FUCK OUT!

[shadowknows69]

11. Everyone in the country was trained already

The whole country has been in some kind of conflict, mostly with us now, for a generation. Everyone under 15 gets an AK-47 for their birthday.

[bdab1973]

46. There are many elements of Iraq's military that isn't ready...

Many of those that were "trained" on how to run a military either retired or left the country. The few that remained are schooled in the old ways, and are very corrupt. We're fighting now to get the more junior guys into leadership positions, to curtail the paternalistic pecking orders that existed before. In Saddam's day, the Iraqi military was NOT a very effective force at all.

[Baby Snooks]

12. But we don't have the oil....

You forget. This is not a war on terror. It is a war for oil.

[defendandprotect]

25. Right . . . and 50 years ago we had the chance to save the planet . . .

and prepare for the end of oil -- and the oil industry took us in this insane

and evil direction of polluting air, making our kids sick - and giving us Global

Warming.

The suburbs are built on easy access to gasoline for cars ---

OIL has peaked and it's all pretty much over --- simply because of the greed of

this industry and its wealth which provided for the buying of government and

basically the destruction of people's government and democracy.

NATIONALIZE OIL --

[ixion]

4. *sigh* damnit... can we stop screwing around?

get the hell out of Iraq. It should have been years ago. A TWO YEAR withdrawal plan is bogus, and expensive.

OUT OF IRAQ NOW!!

[Optical.Catalyst]

5. What happened to 16 months? !! ?

The war in Iraq is illegal. It was illegal when Bush started it, and it is illegal now.

We need to start pulling the troops out today, not tomorrow.

[biopowertoday]

8. TOO MUCH REACHING ACROSS THE ISLE!!

[DirtFrmr]

14. You believed that? n/t

[Optical.Catalyst]

15. As a matter of fact, I did.

I was really hoping 16 months would be at the long end of the time scale, and the withdrawal would be complete before then.

[DirtFrmr]

16. Wow. That's ... incredible. n/t

[Optical.Catalyst]

29. So is President Obama

[Cass]

39. Why? nt

[glitch]

21. I believed it too. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

22. 16 months was too goddam long.

[Optical.Catalyst]

28. 16 months was probably the lowest number that the Reich Wing would not label 'Cut and Run'

[Jackpine Radical]

30. Yeah, that's probably right.

And the ante has been upped--any extraction of American forces that ends up in the collapse of Iraqi government is the new cut & run. There is no way to get out & not have the government collapse. Therefore it's either stay forever or C&R. I say get the C&R over with now & fight the Fascists on the framing game. Screw their propaganda; if we let them define our actions, there is no way to win.

[EFerrari]

23. Mid term elections. n/t

[Earth_First]

6. Relax everyone! Bi-partisanship, remember?

:sarcasm:

[LibDemAlways]

7. Obama campaigned on 16 months, which is too long as it is.

He needs to let the neocons know who's in charge now and not back down on this one.

[Dawgs]

9. Interesting. I don't see anything in that article quoting Obama.

I thought we stopped posting shit like this back during the campaign.

[byeya]

10. Trial balloon probably. This definately should be posted

so it can be shot down or it'll be 32 months, if then.

[FrenchieCat]

33. Well, you know....."Two Officials say...." is

almost all that many here at DU need.....
cause it obviously doesn't take much
for the AP to play us like fools.
AP is good at it, but we should know better.
Appears the the Left is as reactionary as the Right.
Making many here just as lame as the Morans on the other side. :shrug:

[razors edge]

13. Change you can believe in

my ass.

[mike_c]

17. completely unacceptable....

Sixteen months is too long. Every day that the war goes on is another war crime in our names. I do not consent.

America out of Iraq NOW!

[Xenotime]

49. THIS ISN"T CHANGE!! THIS IS MORE * PROPOGANDA!! GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!!

[pyro858]

18. Mass Murder: It's okay when government does it..

Obama should end this occupation immediately-but he's not the change we can believe in. He's just another slimy politician.

[dcindian]

19. Soon to be 44 months.

Change you can die for.

[ProgressIn2008]

26. "Change you can die for." Now there's a bumper sticker with some truth. nt

[originalpckelly]

36. Change you can die for.

You, my friend, have just coined the new anti-war phrase.

[jtrockville]

20. At least "timeline" isn't a dirty word anymore.

Cold comfort to those whose blood is being spilled.

[defendandprotect]

24. We can't afford $750 in STIMULUS but we can afford war?????

No we can't --- !!!

The nation had best begin to face up to the fact that this is about OIL

and that those who support the Carter Doctrine ---"what others have is ours!" --

are going to stay at this forever!!!

[pasto76]

27. Security of Forces Agreement with Iraq

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/images/CGs_Messages/security_agreement.pdf

Article 24 outlines the timetable for us. I would like to see sooner than later, but it is coming.

And this was something Bush signed onto. I stuff this down Republican necks every cahnce I get. back in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 I would get called all the nasty stuff for saying that we need to leave Iraq. Then all of the sudden Bush decides its OK (of course without SOFA the UN charter ran out 31DEC08 and we wouldnt have any authority to do anything in Iraq). This is basically what Rep Murth proposed in 2006 - out of the cities with a close response time in case the shit hits the fan.

As a veteran of Iraq, and someone who is reenlisting guard or reserve this summer, I trust President Obama. its been a long time sicne I could trust the civilian leadership. Or the top Army brass for that matter. I trust President Obama, if he decides 23 months, it will be for good reason.

[Johnyawl]

31. What everybody seems to be missing in the screaming about 16 months...

..."Under either timeline, the U.S. would hope to leave behind a number of brigades that would be reconfigured as multipurpose units to provide training for Iraqi security forces, one official said.

A number of brigades left behind after the withdrawal sounds like a permanent occupation to me. Make no mistake about it people, the neocons, PNACers, oil companies and our military hierachy all see a permanent US presence in Iraq, Obama's campaign promises be damned. All we can hope for is a political movement in Iraq that elects a government that throws us out, much like the Philipines did in 1991.

We will never leave completely of our own accord.

[FrenchieCat]

32. AP writes that Two officials say?

Officials to what and to where? :wtf:

The outrage here is palatable considering the scant evidence.

Have we learned nothing about unamed sources coming from the AP?

One might ask, who are the bigger fools, AP writers,
or those who believe them over the word of our democratically elected new President?

I vote those who believe AP and are lined up inside this thread
throwing their hands up in the air, and saying the nasty things
about our President that they have been dying to say.

Y'all are being punk'd by AP.

[tom_paine]

38. What you say would be true, EXCEPT, the ONE thing the M$M seems to get correct

is reports of Democratic capitulations.

I understand where you are coming from, but please understand where I am coming from.

What you say might still turn out to be true.

But I think you can't dismiss people's concerns, even if this time, and only this time, reports of Democratic capitulations are premature and overblown.

They sure weren't overblown on the Jobs Bill, or any of the other several dozen supine Democratic capitulations to the Bushies, whether in power or out, going all the way back to declining to prosecute Reagan and Bush I for the High Treason they committed during Iran-Contra.

[Bluebear]

40. For that poster, it's always DU's fault and never Obama's fault.

Just sayin'.

[FrenchieCat]

41. And for you poster, It's always Obama fault, period.

[Bluebear]

42. deleted, not worth it

[Bluebear]

43. deleted

[No Elephants]

34. WHEN did he campaign on withdrawing within 16 months from Inauguration? An article

dated January 31, 2007 states that he had just introduced legislation that would remove ALL combat brigades from Iraq by March 2008. (Didn't he announce his candidacy in February 2007?)

According to this September 2007 article, he was calling for with withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2008. http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1222671620070912

In this July 2008 interview, he is saying that we should start withdrawing from Iraq right then. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/20/ftn/main4275864.shtml

However, at about the same time, his website said that he would have ALL combat brigades out within sixteen months of inauguration. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/Story?id=5351864&page=1

However, this July 7, 2008 article http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/07/07/080707taco_talk_packer gave us an inkling that none of the above might be true:

"The question is whether Obama will publicly change course before November. So far, he has offered nothing more concrete than this: “We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in.”

Obama’s advisers have been more forthcoming. Samantha Power, before she resigned from the campaign for making an indiscreet remark about Hillary Clinton, told the BBC, “He will, of course, not rely upon some plan that he’s crafted as a Presidential candidate or a U.S. senator. He will rely upon a plan—an operational plan—that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground.”

Last month, the Center for a New American Security, which has become something like Obama’s foreign-policy think tank, released a report that argued against a timetable for withdrawal, regardless of the state of the war, and in favor of “conditional engagement,” declaring, “Under this strategy, the United States would not withdraw its forces based on a firm unilateral schedule.

Rather, the time horizon for redeployment would be negotiated with the Iraqi government and nested within a more assertive approach to regional diplomacy. The United States would make it clear that Iraq and America share a common interest in achieving sustainable stability in Iraq, and that the United States is willing to help support the Iraqi government and build its security and governance capacity over the long term, but only so long as Iraqis continue to make meaningful political progress.” It’s impossible to know if this persuasive document mirrors Obama’s current thinking, but here’s a clue: it was co-written by one of his Iraq advisers, Colin Kahl."

(Paragraphing added for easier reading.)

[SpartanDem]

35. This isn't anything new

Obama said 16 months was their ideal timeline, but the said number could adjusted depending on conditionSome This isn't some big betrayal do you people really expect him to hold to the 16 months no matter what?

[tom_paine]

37. Next month's headline: Obama weighs 38-month withdrawal plan.

Just a few more blasts from the Bushie False Reality Generator...

[Zhade]

44. I voted for someone I thought would keep his promises.

NT!

[ima_sinnic]

45. obama is a trojan horse

I wash my hands of him and his "bipartisanship" and republican/DLC butt-kissing and groveling and appointments like Emmanuel, Gregg, Kissinger, and all the other parasites, shit-heads, war profiteers, and blood sucking partisan assholes.
if that gets me banned from DU, so be it. I think I'm done with politics.
"change" is for suckers who actually believed the guy. I wanted Kucinich, and all I got was a lousy "cabinet of enemies" line of BULLSHIT.
Hey, Barack, just STAY in Iraq, ok? sheesh. We "can't afford" social programs, but we can afford yet another TWO YEARS of murder, mayhem, and atrocities in another part of the world where we don't belong. Yeah, I know it's "not his fault" that the social programs were cut out of the stimulus bill--it's the fault of ALL "democrats" who once again allowed the reptiles to run roughshod over them, and I do blame Obama for putting "bipartisanship" ahead of what was right for Americans. Is he naive, or is he in collusion with them?
I WAS going to try to buy a house in the next few months, but I don't think I want to saddle myself with a huge mortgage payment at this particular time, with this stimulus bill doomed to failure. Thanks a lot for nothing. Enjoy your fucking wars, in Iraq AND Afghanistan, which will do absolutely NOTHING to help Americans, financially or "security"-wise.

[bdab1973]

47. The truth...

Obama doesn't want to leave Iraq a flaming wreckage. I respect him for that, it wasn't an easy decision to make.

Right now, things are very calm (considering the past). Attacks are way down, not just on US forces but as a whole. Iraqis are moving back to Baghdad. The vote went well with little violence, despite plenty of threats of it. The Iraqi Army and Air Force are well on their way to becoming effective forces...BUT...

They aren't there yet. And as they continue to grow and develop as an institution within the nation, they will still need external help in the form of advisors. The Iraqi Air Force, for example, will continue to add new aircraft and forces through the year 2015, and they can't simply stand up a new squadron on their own. They operated cheap-ass Russian equipment for decades, buying and operating the western equipment they are getting now (not just from the US, but from Europe too) will require a considerable amount of outside help. They do not have the cultural background to simply sit down and figure it out on their own. As it is, getting them to operate in an EFFICIENT manner is a challenge, although they are a world away from where they were in 2003 or 2004.

While I am all for getting the US combat troops out within the next couple of years, it must be done in an intelligent way, or else we're going to doom these guys to the same fate they were facing in 2004. Want to know why their country exploded into violence? Early on, Bremer basically fired the entire Iraqi government and military...there was a huge political vacuum. And if we just get out ASAP without regard to the situation on the ground, we're essentially abandoning these people again. Basically, we'd come in, ruin their government and infrastructure, and then turn around and run away? How nice of us.

They want us out of their country, but they don't want us to leave them hanging either. I know because I speak to them daily about stuff like this. The situation you read in Time magazine or the NY Times is vastly different from the reality, something that wasn't lost on Obama, and I applaud him for at least paying attention instead of sticking to the mantra that everyone in the US hears daily.

[FrenchieCat]

48. Those who believed this AP drivel have been proven wrong.....

Hope you learn next time that when the media says jump, you tell them to go fuck themselves....instead of "How High"!

You can go to this thread to admit that you may have "screwed up" by being taken in so easily.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8186356&mesg_id=8186356


based on this:

Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story on Pullout Plans
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/10