Posted on 07/31/2009 1:42:16 PM PDT by Cheap_Hessian
WASHINGTON (AP) - An Army colonel's colorfully worded memo arguing for the U.S. to declare victory in Iraq and leave next summer suggests the possibility of an important shift in the debate about U.S. withdrawal plans.
Until now the question has been whether thousands of U.S. troops might need to stay beyond a December 2011 deadline for a complete U.S. pullout, in order to continue training and advising Iraqi forces.
The memo written by Col. Timothy R. Reese, a U.S. adviser to the Iraqi military command, turns that question on its head by asking whether it makes more sense to get out long before the deadlinescrapping President Barack Obama's plan for an extended advisory mission.
For now, Reese's view"It's time for the U.S. to declare victory and go home"seems to be in the distinct minority. The conventional wisdom is that in order to avoid an Iraqi collapse that would squander six-plus years of enormous U.S. sacrifices, a residual force of as many as 50,000 U.S. troops should remain to train and advise Iraqis for 16 months after all combat troops depart in August 2010.
Might that change in coming months as Iraqi forces take firmer control and perhaps lose interest in U.S. help?
Might the post-August 2010 advisory mission go forward but with far fewer U.S. troops participating?
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
"...a residual force of as many as 50,000 U.S. troops should remain..."
About half of the existing troops in Iraq is called "residual"? No, if it was 1 year earlier the headline would be, "Bush Keeps Troops in Iraq Despite Army's Advice".
I wouldn’t put it past Obama to leave Iraq early and practically hand it to the Iranians.
well, that’s one way to buck for General with a chicken-hearted hippie Commander in Chief....
LLS
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