Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Obama Considering Breaking Promise on Iraq Withdrawal

Eric Schmitt and Steven Lee Myers,New York Times

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is supporting a plan that would keep 3,000 to 4,000 American troops in Iraq after a deadline for their withdrawal at year’s end,but only to continue training security forces there,a senior military official said on Tuesday.
The recommendation would break a longstanding pledge by President Obama to withdraw all American forces from Iraq by the deadline. But it would still involve significantly fewer forces than proposals presented at the Pentagon in recent weeks by the senior American commander in Iraq,Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III,to keep as many as 14,000 to 18,000 troops there.
The proposal for a smaller force — if approved by the White House and the Iraqi government,which is not yet certain — reflected the shifting political realities in both countries….
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