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The move to include reference to a time horizon is a significant concession by the Bush administration, which has long resisted setting a timetable for troop cuts. It is a tacit admission that the United States’ military presence in Iraq is not endless.
It's not an arbitrary timeline created by a US politician that isn't supported by military advisors and it isn't a hard timeline. Not sure the Dems or Obama can clain that this is what they were calling for.
As conditions on the ground improve, as the Iraqi's are better able to take over operations, we will be leaving. Gen. Patraeus said earlier this year if the trend continues, troops would begin withdrawing late summer.
I guess you haven't been listening to the generals or "W". They have said this all along.
The long-term agreement had been held up by differences over issues like the extent of Iraqi control over American military operations, the right of American soldiers to detain suspects without the approval of Iraqi authorities and Iraqi demands for a timetable for withdrawal. But in a statement, the White House said Mr. Bush and Mr. Maliki had agreed “that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals — such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.”
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The negotiations have been complicated by political currents in both countries. Iraqi officials facing elections in the fall do not want to be seen as capitulating to the United States. At the same time, they are eager for some form of agreement to prevent any rapid departure of American forces.
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The Democrats have long pushed for a specific timetable for troop withdrawals.
In the statement, the White House insisted there would not be “an arbitrary date for withdrawal,” and again reiterated what has been Mr. Bush long-standing opposition to what he has called “an artificial timetable for withdrawal.”
The United States and Iraq have been trying to negotiate a long-term security agreement that would clear the way for American troops to operate in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.
Very simple, really, if you've been paying attention.
An arbitrary time table, made up by politicians that don't factor in the conditions on the ground, NO. That is Obama's plan. Get'em out no matter what.
The president has fought that tooth and nail, and was right. He has always said that as we succeed on the ground and security improves, the troops will come home.
Since the UN mandate is soon to end, of course there will be an "agreement", but not a "timetable" written in stone, plucked out of the sky by putting your finger to the wind - IE, Obama's plan.
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Originally Posted by sanrene
You really haven't been listening to the right people. Put aside your hatred of "W" and look objectively at what has been said.
No one said we would be there forever. We will be there as long as we are needed.
We have been listening to W.
He told us the Taliban had ceased to exist yet now there's a rush to get more troops to Afghanistan to fight that force that supposedly ceased to exist.
bush is just being flexible to the conditions in iraq. he always stated we would begin drawdowns near the fall.
would you prefer he say we are going to increase troops there and remain for another 30 years?
doesn't matter what bush does....liberals will find something wrong with him anyways. if bush announced the war will end tomorrow and all the troops are coming home, the liberals would fuming mad and still mother f him.
obama has changed his tune numerous times...but, it's OK for obama to flip around like a fish out of water.
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