United States Agrees to Withdraw all Troops From Iraq by 2011

 Last week I wrote this post about the United States and Irag agreeing on a basic “timetable” to withdraw American troops from Iraq’s cities by the year 2009. It appears as though the talks have progressed well beyond that stage now, and the United States and Iraq have agreed to the possible total withdrawal of United States troops by the year 2011, based on certain criteria being met of course.

“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,” Maliki said.

 The Bush administration is still refusing to comment on this as President Bush has always wanted to keep the actual timetable private so as not to alert the enemy about future troop movements.

 Barack Obama has had many conflicting positions on troop withdrawal that he has rotated in and out during his campaign. From immediately withdrawing troops, to having troops home by 2013, to having troops home by 2016, to consulting the generals on the field before making any decisions on withdrawal. All of these positions have been his “official policy” at least once during his campaign. Just today I saw a commercial which holds his current campaign slogan on troop withdrawal. In this commercial he claims he will withdraw the troops responsibly.

 So today I would like to congratulate Barack Obama for finally agreeing with President Bush that the troops should come home responsibly. That has been the president’s policy all along. As the Iraqis are ready to take control of their country we will gladly relinquish control. That is the responsible way to bring the troops home. We will bring them home in victory.

 It appears that the progress in Iraq, while much slower than anyone wanted, has now reached the point where a “timetable” can be negotiated. There was always going to be this timetable, the Bush administration just wanted it to be private, however Maliki needed to show his people that the United States would not be there forever, he needed to appear tough so his government leaked the timetable that was being negotiated. If President Bush had done the same perhaps Republican candidates would be in better shape, however the president put victory in Iraq ahead of politics, while Barack Obama and the rest of the Democrats played politics with the war and the lives of the soldiers.

 Progress in Iraq os being made, there is talk of withdrawal in victory, and at the Democrat National Convention there must be cursing, they didn’t want this to happen until after the election so that they could get credit for it.