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tazzygirl -> RE: Neocons should love this (1/1/2012 10:11:10 PM)
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You didnt read the politico piece.
For example, in a July 17, 2007, interview with USA Today, Obama said, "Here's my view on the situation. There are two indisputable facts, and then there's a choice. Fact No. 1: The surge is not working. It has not changed the dynamics on the ground. It has put more U.S. troops at risk. It has not strengthened the Iraqi government. It has not quelled the antagonism between the various factions, and it has not lessened the strength of the insurgency."
But Obama never said he would immediately pull all of the U.S. troops out of Iraq. To the contrary, Obama said in that very same interview that he would withdraw troops "in a gradual fashion."
As for how quickly the troops should leave, Obama's campaign Web site said: "Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.
At a Democratic debate in Cleveland on Feb. 26, 2008, for example, Obama said, "As soon as I take office, I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we will initiate a phased withdrawal, we will be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. We will give ample time for them to stand up, to negotiate the kinds of agreements that will arrive at the political accommodations that are needed."
Obama also stressed repeatedly that he would strongly consider the recommendations of his commanders on the ground before removing any troops.
So that was Obama's position in the campaign. Now, what has he done as president?
As it turns out, the drawdown of troops actually began before Obama took office. President George W. Bush began to reduce troop levels in June 2008, a full six months before Obama was sworn in.
But Obama has continued on that path of reducing troop levels. When Obama took office, the troop level in Iraq was about 137,000. It has steadily declined to its current level of 96,000, said Maj. Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the Department of Defense.
In a formal announcement of a new Iraq strategy at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in North Carolina, on Feb. 27, 2009, Obama said the United States will remove all combat troops from Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010. Obama said he planned to keep 35,000 to 50,000 military personnel in Iraq through 2011 for the purpose of "training, equipping, and advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain nonsectarian; conducting targeted counterterrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq."
Not only is the plan to remove combat troops on schedule, it's actually ahead of schedule, U.S. Gen. Ray Odierno said at a Pentagon press conference on Feb. 22, 2010.
The interview...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-07-17-obama-interview_N.htm
"Defining the mission for the military. This president has failed to define an achievable mission. It is now up to Congress to define a mission. So as I said in these meetings (in Iowa), my first task if I were commander in chief would be to call the Joint Chiefs together and not tell them how to do their job, but I would tell them your job is to begin a phased deployment. Because the mission I'm defining is one in which we are withdrawing in a gradual fashion, that we are helping to train Iraqi forces and that we're going to initiate diplomacy as a more important tool at this point than the surge in order to achieve our goals"
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