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BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's government Monday ruled out allowing U.S. combat troops to remain in Iraqi cities after the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, despite concern that Iraqi forces cannot cope with the security challenge following a resurgence of bombings in recent weeks. Asking U.S. forces to stay in the cities, including volatile Mosul in the north, would be embarrassing for Iraq's prime minister, who has staked his political future on claims that the country has turned the corner in the war against Sunni and Shiite extremists. The departure of heavily armed combat troops from bases inside the cities...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2009 – The U.S. is on track to meet the terms of a timeline of withdrawal from Iraq, the top American commander in Iraq said today. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said he believes the U.S. is prepared to fulfill a deal requiring U.S. forces to leave major Iraqi cities by June 30 and all combat troops to depart the country by the end of 2011. “We continue to work with the government of Iraq so they can meet that timeline so that they are able to maintain stability after...

BAGHDAD — Six years after the U.S. overthrew Saddam Hussein's government, tens of thousands of Iraqis gathered in the rain in Iraq's capital Thursday to mark the anniversary and renew calls for an American withdrawal. The demonstrators came in response to calls by Muqtada al Sadr, the influential Shiite cleric who's long decried the U.S. military's occupation, but there were also Sunni Muslims in the crowd. Draped in Iraqi flags and chanting, protesters packed Baghdad's Firdous Square, where six years ago a crowd cheered the destruction of a statue of Saddam. "No, no to America," demonstrators repeated Thursday. "No, no...

Fears of record hedge fund withdrawals By James Mackintosh in London Published: March 23 2009 23:32 | Last updated: March 23 2009 23:32 Hedge fund investors believe the industry will see even bigger withdrawals this year than last, when record levels of cash were pulled from the sector. A survey of investors by Deutsche Bank found a third expect more than $200bn to be withdrawn, after a net $155bn was taken out last year, according to calculations by Chicago consultancy Hedge Fund Research. Only a quarter of investors expect net inflows into the industry, and 82 per cent of the...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2009 – Military leaders in Iraq have begun working toward achieving President Barack Obama’s goal of a complete troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2010, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said during a briefing from Iraq yesterday. “Between now and September … we’ll be reducing by two brigade combat teams here on the ground in Iraq,” Army Maj. Gen. David Perkins, the command’s director for strategic effects, said. “We’ll also be reducing the number of various enablers.” Enablers are the units that make it possible for the brigade combat teams to carry out their missions,...

Here is video of President Barack Obama today announcing his plan to withdraw all combat mission U.S. Troops from Iraq by August of 2010. He made the announcement in a speech before U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Obama's plan will leave 50,000 U.S. Troops in Iraq after the August 2010 deadline, but they will not be classified as "combat" troops. He said he wanted all troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. But Obama left wiggle room to alter these plans based on what happens in Iraq between now and then. Obama clearly wanted to leave...

The fix is in as AP covers for Obama: Bam-bam's plan for a 16-month withdrawal is being worked by the Pentagon. They fail to discuss the moving baseline of Bam-bam's words - but do take the time to mention that it accelerates W's plan ... the one negotiated with the Iraqis. I get a whiff of cut and run.

After our visit to Iraq this month, it is clear that what was once unthinkable there is now taking place: A stable, safe and free Iraq is emerging. Violence has fallen to the lowest level since the first months of the war. The Sunni Arabs who once formed the core of the insurgency are today among our most steadfast allies in the fight against al-Qaeda. A status-of-forces agreement between Iraq and America will take effect next month, providing for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and a commensurate increase in Iraqi self-defense. And Iraqi politics is increasingly taking on the messy...

Full text of the final, ratified Status Of Forces Agreement between the United States and Iraq.

Today, Obama, in an attempt to burnish his foreign policy credentials, held a conference on foreign policy issues. In his speech he stressed the need for "a new direction" and "multilateralism". McCain, on the other hand, wants to continue in the same direction and to continue with the present multilateralism without rejecting unilteralism when necessary. Bush chose unilateralism when the international community was resisting joint action in the path Bush had decided upon. Bush didn't want to have the international community determine what was in America's best interest. He wanted to act independently when necessary. To favour multilateralism is to...

CNN) — Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden is cancelling his campaign events for Saturday and Sunday as his mother-in-law battles a serious illness. The Senator from Delaware's campaign spokesman, David Wade, put out a statement saying "the campaign has cancelled Sen. Biden's schedule today and tomorrow because of a serious illness in Jill Biden's family. Hospice has advised the Bidens to remain close by, and we appreciate everyone's respect for the family's privacy." Biden was scheduled to speak in Washington D.C. and then attend a fund-raiser in the nation's capitol Saturday night. Sunday he was expected to campaign in...

There is nothing wrong with setting broad goals for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. The U.S. wants to leave as soon as this is feasible, and Iraqis have long wanted us to leave. At least since 2004, Iraq’s Kurds have been the only group in Iraq that showed a consistent desire for the U.S. to stay. It also is impossible to be certain that the risks of early withdrawal will really be greater from the risks of staying. It is at least possible that acting on early timelines will force Iraqis to move towards political accommodation, to take hard decisions,...

At the "make-or-break" stage of talks with the U.S. on the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has swept aside his negotiating team and replaced it with three of his closest aides, a reshuffle that some Iraqi officials warn risks sabotaging the agreement. The decision on the team negotiating the pact, which the Americans have described as the basis of a long-term strategic alliance between the United States and Iraq, remains so sensitive that it has not been announced. In disclosing the switch to the Los Angeles Times this weekend, a senior Iraqi official close to...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that an agreement had been reached in negotiations on a security pact with the United States to end any foreign military presence in Iraq by the end of 2011. "There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date which is the end of 2011 to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil," Maliki said in a speech to tribal leaders in the Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. "Yes, there is major progress on the issue of the negotiations on the security deal,"...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2008 – Unofficial reports indicate that Russian troops began to withdraw from the Georgian town of Gori last evening, a senior Defense Department spokesman said here today. “We’re going to have to see whether or not that is the beginning of a true withdrawal,” Bryan Whitman said, or “some sort of token effort.” Meanwhile, deliveries of U.S. humanitarian supplies to Georgia continue, Whitman said. About 264 tons of supplies have been air-delivered to Georgia so far, he said. Whitman also told reporters that Russian troops in Georgia took some U.S. military Humvee vehicles. He said he didn’t...

GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - Russia announced to the West it would begin withdrawing forces from Georgia on Monday after a war that dealt a humiliating blow to the Black Sea state and raised fears for energy supplies to Europe. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had told him by telephone that forces would begin leaving around midday on Monday. Sarkozy, representing the European Union, said failure to pull out under a ceasefire deal would have "serious consequences" for ties with the EU. Sunday saw no evidence of fighting, but Russian troops continued to man...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2008 – A cease-fire agreement signed today by the president of the former Soviet republic of Georgia calls for Russian troops to immediately leave his country, America’s senior diplomat said in the Georgian capital today. “And now, with the signature of the Georgian president on this cease-fire accord, all Russian troops and any irregular and paramilitary forces that entered with them must leave immediately,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during a news conference in Tbilisi with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at her side. President Bush dispatched Rice to Europe to assist in resolving a now...

Obama and the democrats told us the Iraq war wasn't working and wouldn't work because of intransigence by the Iraqi government. Even when the surge worked, Obama said it didn't matter because the Iraqi government failed to meet political and economic benchmarks needed for national unity and to end the (nonexistent) civil war.Now Obama goes to Iraq and supports the supposed withdrawal position of the Iraqi government. Am I the only who sees the incredible inconsistency here? According to Obama the Iraqi goverenment couldn't deliver, it couldn't be trusted when it reported progress, its military moves were destined for failure.But...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s vocal support for Barack Obama’s 16-month withdrawal timetable goes to show how distorted the Iraq drawdown argument has become in light of the election narrative. Of course a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq becomes less preposterous as security increases in that country — because during that transition the idea of timetables stops being purely artificial and becomes more reality-based. To think otherwise is a logical absurdity, and that’s what the popular state of this discussion has become. As a war draws to a close, individual soldiers don’t start calling travel agents and packing bags...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes." Maliki was careful to back away from outright support for Obama. "Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they...