 |
         
|
"The President today was careful not to suggest Mission Accomplished," ABC's Jake Tapper noted, referring to the last time a President had declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. CBS' David Martin (no link) showed us searing images of mutilated military veterans, commenting that "in the back of everybody's mind is the last time a President declared combat ending and troops coming home--that was more than 4,000 deaths ago." ABC's Martha Raddatz offered her perspective on the President's plan: "The war is not over…Obama is trying to end the United States' part of the war."
The United States' occupation force in Iraq has a current strength of 142,000. The President's plan is to keep most combat brigades on duty through the end of this year, when Iraq has scheduled national elections, and then to execute a rapid drawdown during the first six months of 2010, leaving 50,000 troops in place for the ensuing 18 months. Those troops will have what NBC's Savannah Guthrie called "a new mission," namely to advise and equip local forces, to support civilian reconstruction and to counter terrorism. If that does not sound too different from their current combat role, Obama's critics agreed. "Many anti-war Democrats are disturbed," CBS' Chip Reid reported. The December 2011 final exit date, Reid added, was not new policy from Obama. It had already been agreed by US-Iraq diplomacy under the Bush Administration.
You must be logged in to this website to leave a comment. Please click here to log in so you can participate in the discussion.
