Friday, February 27, 2009

Obama's Troop Drawdown Decision Will End Iraq War in Late 2010, Officials Say


Could it possibly be true? Could the war that began over false pretenses and control of oil finally be ending? According to this article,
The Iraq war will come to an end on Aug. 31, 2010, senior officials said, following President Obama's decision to end all counter-insurgency missions by that time. Obama told top leaders in Congress on Thursday that he will transition the mission in Iraq to training, advising and engaging in limited counter-terrorist operations, according to congressional sources.

The president is expected to deliver a speech Friday at the Marine base in Camp Lejeune, N.C, in which he will order the immediate drawdown of the 142,000 Marines and Army personnel in Iraq.


Obama's decision reflects his belief that "there have been real advances" in the country and, as result, the U.S. military should now be ordered to carry out "a fundamental change in mission," senior administration officials said.

Obama told lawmakers about his decision on Thursday. He told lawmakers the troops remaining in Iraq after Aug. 31, 2010, will carry out new missions and will be trained and organized in a way that de-emphasizes combat-readiness and intensifies the focus on these three missions:
-- Train, equip and advise Iraqi security forces
-- Support civilian operations in Iraq aimed at reconstruction, redevelopment and political reconciliation
-- Conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions


Apparently Pelosi and Reid are against this plan, but McCain and some other out-on-his-own conservative agree with him. It seems our current president can do nothing right. I would say A plan, is better than no plan. 4 billion a month is better than 12 billion spent on this stupid war, I suppose, but what of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea? What of our economy? That's 8 billion a month we could spend right here at home in places like, I know, education, creating jobs, and improving our health care system!

Oh, but wait, that's spending money on American's. Why on earth would we want to do that?

5 comments:

Mandy said...

I am very happy there will finally be an exit plan. I believe it is long overdue. Did they say why Reid and Pelosi are against it? I am surprised by that.

I think it is about time we the majority of those troops out of there.

Mandy said...

oops... forgot the word 'get' in that last sentence...

L said...

I don't know why. I can only assume they don't think it's fast enough, or don't like the fact that still so many will remain, most likely indefinitely. We will probably never completely get out of there, just like we still have a presence in Japan, and South Korea. Not much we can do about that.

Christina said...

I heard on the radio it was because troops were still being left- but it was just a headline, not the full story so I'm not sure.

I am glad that it really seems like Obama is listening to and trusting the military generals. It seems like he is definitely taking this seriously and is trying to figure out the best situation. Only time will tell, of course. It would be horrible to take all the troops out and then have Iraq completely collapse and us have to go back in there and start from scratch again. But, Obama is a smart guy- it sounds like he is doing the right thing!

L said...

I just watched his speech at the military base on my all time fav channel PBS and he talked about the addition of 17,000 troops to Afghanistan, more pay for their time and better health care (including mental health) for them and their families. His comments drew many a cheer. Boy, that guy can give a speech. I don't think he looked down once.