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After today's news... it's evident this man spoke nothing but lies during his campaign to get people like myself to vote for him.
[h1]Obama announces end of Iraq combat mission[/h1] [h2]President says 'highest priority' will be security of troops and civilians[/h2]
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Friday declared that the United States would end its bloody and costly combat mission in Iraq by late summer of 2010 - but a dramatic force reduction was not expected until after Iraq's elections at the end of this year.
"Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," he said in a speech at the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C. "As we carry out this drawdown, my highest priority will be the safety and security of our troops and civilians in Iraq."
Even with the end of the combat mission, which would come three months later than Obama pledged during his presidential campaign, a force numbering between 35,000 to 50,000 American forces will stay behind in non-combat roles(yeah RIGHT!!!), with the final troops not slated to leave until Dec. 31, 2011.
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Obama's decision to leave a sizable force was welcomed by some congressional Republicans, including former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, while some Democrats were concerned too many troops would remain in Iraq.
"I am cautiously optimistic that the plan as laid out by the president can lead to success," McCain said Friday on the Senate floor.
The pace of the withdrawal will be guided by the needs of Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, administration sources said. They said Odierno felt it was important to keep an adequate combat force in Iraq at least until national elections this December.
One official said Odierno wants a "substantial force on the ground in Iraq to ensure that the elections come off." Another official said Odierno wanted flexibility around the elections. "The president found that very compelling," the official said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers in a briefing Thursday that ground commanders in Iraq believe the plan poses only a moderate risk to security, McCain said.
There were no assurances that the residual force would not be pulled into battle should Sunni Muslim insurgent holdouts or disaffected Shiite Muslims resume wide-scale fighting.
Obama's announcement did not specify the rate of withdrawal either before or after those elections are held. During the campaign, Obama had said it would be roughly one combat brigade per month over 16 months.
Depending on the number of forces left behind, the military will have withdrawn between 92,000 and 107,000 American fighting personnel from Iraq nearly 7 1/2 years after the United States invaded and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
According to an AP count as of Thursday, at least 4,251 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003. Total Iraqi deaths are unknown but number in the tens of thousands and are perhaps above 100,000.
Remaining troops' threefold mission
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Iraq pullout plan
Feb. 27: TODAY's Ann Curry talks to David Gregory, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," about President Obama's plan.
Today show
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[/td] [/tr][/table]Obama said the U.S. force that remains after the combat mission is closed out will have a threefold mission:Senior administration officials said the plan was drawn up after a month of consultations with Gates, Mullen, Odierno and the military service chiefs.
- To train, equip and advise Iraq forces;
- To offer force protection for both U.S. military and civilian operations that will continue in the country;
- To engage in targeted counterterrorism missions either alone or in conjunction with Iraqi troops.
Obama has settled on a 19-month drawdown. He had promised the faster pace of 16 months during his campaign but also said he would confer with military commanders on a responsible exit.
17,000 more troops for Afghanistan
In the meantime, Obama has ordered the dispatch of 17,000 more American forces to Afghanistan, to fight resurgent Taliban insurgents. As U.S. troops leave Iraq, that would free even more forces for deployment in Afghanistan.
The president and his advisers decided on the Aug. 31, 2010, date for ending the combat mission, the officials said, based on estimates that the threat in Iraq would be acceptable by then. There has been great concern about a new eruption of violence that could tip the country back into the horrendous brutality that swept through it in the last half of 2006 through the late summer of 2007.
Obama and his national security team briefed congressional leaders on the plan Thursday evening. Before the meeting, Democratic congressional leaders - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - both questioned the need for residual forces as large as 50,000.
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"I am happy to listen to the secretary of defense and the president," Reid said. "But when they talk about 50,000, that's a little higher number than I had anticipated."
Boehner skeptical, McCain supportive
Some Republican lawmakers were skeptical for a different reason. They were concerned that troops might be pulled out too fast and security gains sacrificed.
"While it may have sounded good during the campaign, I do think it's important that we listen to those commanders and our diplomats who are there to understand how fragile the situation is," said House Republican leader John Boehner.
Let me just quote everything he has said or done about ending the war in Iraq previously...
