Hope ‘N Change: Obama Backs Away From Iraq Troop Withdrawals
Because we’ve already won the war, which is what neither he nor any of his sycophants in the media is going to tell you.
There always was a tension, if not a bit of a contradiction, in the two parts of Mr. Obama’s campaign platform to “end the war” by withdrawing all combat troops by May 2010. To be sure, Mr. Obama was careful to say that the drawdowns he was promising included only combat troops. But supporters who keyed on the language of ending the war might be forgiven if they thought that would mean bringing home all of the troops.
Pentagon planners say that it is possible that Mr. Obama’s goal could be accomplished at least in part by relabeling some units, so that those currently counted as combat troops could be “re-missioned,” their efforts redefined as training and support for the Iraqis. . . .
To date, there has been no significant criticism from the antiwar left of the Democratic Party of the prospect that Mr. Obama will keep tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for at least several years to come.
I congratulate Obama for his pragmatism. At this stage in the game, a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq (which is what he promised during his campaign) is the worst possible thing we could have done in Iraq. That he won’t be doing it now is welcome news, even if it is a broken campaign promise.












