Judiciary Report - Obama Criticized Over The War

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Obama Criticized Over The War

December 4. 2008

President-elect Barack Obama

President-elect Barack Obama is being criticized in numerous publications over seemingly drawing back from his campaign promise to swiftly end George W. Bush's war in Iraq.

Many expected the government would begin withdrawing troops not long after he takes office in January 2009, but are now sobering up to the reality that it is not Obama's plan.

This week it was announced Obama is working on a plan of withdrawal that would happen in 16 months and even then many could be left behind.

It is my hope they retrieve ALL the troops from of Iraq as soon as possible and reunite them with their families.

Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now Muted by Reality

WASHINGTON — On the campaign trail, Senator Barack Obama offered a pledge that electrified and motivated his liberal base, vowing to “end the war” in Iraq.

But as he moves closer to the White House, President-elect Obama is making clearer than ever that tens of thousands of American troops will be left behind in Iraq, even if he can make good on his campaign promise to pull all combat forces out within 16 months.

“I said that I would remove our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months, with the understanding that it might be necessary — likely to be necessary — to maintain a residual force to provide potential training, logistical support, to protect our civilians in Iraq,” Mr. Obama said this week as he introduced his national security team.

Publicly at least, Mr. Obama has not set a firm number for that “residual force,” a phrase certain to become central to the debate on the way ahead in Iraq, though one of his national security advisers, Richard Danzig, said during the campaign that it could amount to 30,000 to 55,000 troops. Nor has Mr. Obama laid out any timetable beyond 16 months for troop drawdowns, or suggested when he believes a time might come for a declaration that the war is over.

In the meantime, military planners are drawing up tentative schedules aimed at meeting both Mr. Obama’s goal for withdrawing combat troops, with a target of May 2010, and the Dec. 31, 2011, date for sending the rest of American troops home that is spelled out in the new agreement between the United States and the Iraqi government...

http://www.nytimes.com