[woofie]

I have a question :

If Obama is Pres can he unilaterally order our troops back from Iraq ? Does the Congess have a role?

[GVnana]

Good question. As commander in chief with a Democrat house behind him...why not?

[Moral Hazard]

“If Obama is Pres can he unilaterally order our troops back from Iraq ? Does the Congess have a role?”

Yes and no. I can’t think of anything Congress could do to force a president to fight a war that wouldn’t constitute a separation of powers violation. Of course given the current state of the supreme court and their disregard for separation of powers that might not matter.

[tanknetter]

If Obama is Pres can he unilaterally order our troops back from Iraq ? Does the Congess have a role?

Theoretically, yes. The big issue would be whether he has the funding available to do so. Getting the troops home wouldn't cost that much (relatively speaking). Getting their equipment home is another matter entirely ... and the military (and the Republicans) would go absolutely apesh*t if he ordered them to abandon functioning M1s, M2/3s and Strykers in the numbers we have deployed in Iraq.

My belief would be that Obama would be "counseled" by Dem elders not to even think of trying to do something like that. They recall all too well what happened to Bill Clinton in 1993 and 94 when he created the appearance that he was d*cking with the military. Unlike Hillary!, Obama, I think, would be inclined to listen.

Starting with the hypothesis (this is just a hypothesis) that a Democrat *will* win in November, it's much better to have unqualified Obama win than it is to have Hillary! show up on 1/20/09 with her existing "shadow government" all prefabricated and ready to drop into place.

[DugwayDuke]

“If Obama is Pres can he unilaterally order our troops back from Iraq ? Does the Congess have a role?”

Regardless of whether he could or could not, it would certainly be within his powers as CIC to confine US troops to base suspending all combat operations and essentially reaching the same end.

[T.L.Sink]

As commander-in-chief he could withdraw troops. To the best of my knowledge, the only power Congress has is to cut the purse strings and force withdraw by refusing to fund them.