Does Obama really have any intentions of leaving Iraq?

[ebaycj]

Sounds like Anarchist420 goes to Liberty College or some other similar institution of lower learning.

Burt getting back to the thread question of will Obama try to extend the American stay in Iraq, that may be determined by future events.

As it is Obama opposed the US entering Iraq in the first place, campaigned on the 2008 platform that he wanted our troops out of Iraq, but the basic withdrawal schedule was something Maliki demanded and got from GWB before Obama was elected. So I think its a slam dunk Obama wants us out on schedule even if 50,000
non combat troops will be left behind.

Sadly, Iraqi political stability is miles wide and less than a half an inch deep, Iraq still can't agree on whom their new prime minister will be, and if civil war erupts, its going to spread outside the borders of Iraq also.

But I think the only way Obama would possibly to delay the big troop pull out scheduled for the end of this month, could only happen following a formal request
from Iraq itself. And even then Obama may so no US troops but might help something like the Arab League or some similar entity to pick up the slack.

I believe with all the military base(s), as well as our large embassy there, that 50,000 troops was the "designed" post-iraqi-freedom peacetime presence there. Not for Iraq's sake, but for our own.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Why is 50K troops needed for a country that is supposed to be stable?

I expect that we do not have that amount in Turkey, Saudi or Egypt

 

[werepossum]

Political Science? Study harder.

Obama is just like any other politician, say what you need to get to office, then deal with the situation at hand. He realizes that it would be unwise to pull out of the middle east currently or that would make things worse very fast.

This, in spades. I have no idea if Obama is really serious about pulling out of Iraq, so I'll take him at his word. Since he's generally following the Bush plan in Iraq, it would be foolish of me to criticize him for going marginally faster or slower as those considerations could logically be affected by local conditions from month to month and Bush's exact time line cannot be known anyway.

Personally I think we'll pull completely out of Iraq by 2016 or so. I also think this will be driven by Iraq, not the USA, so Obama will deserve neither credit nor blame for it.