MOST US troops will leave Iraq by August 2010, three months later than US President Barack Obama promised during the election campaign, according to a plan the president is expected to announce tomorrow.
Mr Obama had promised to withdraw the troops within 16 months, but military commanders wanted 23 months to complete the drawdown. The White House insisted yesterday, however, that the president would keep a key campaign promise when he announces that all combat troops would come home within 19 months.
In his speech to Congress on Tuesday night, Mr Obama said he would “soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war”. He has promised to bring home all combat troops, but a residual force of about 50,000 will remain in the country to advise and train Iraqi forces and protect US personnel and installations.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi last night expressed concern about the size of the residual force, telling MSNBC that she would prefer to limit the remaining force to between 15,000 and 20,000.
There are currently 140,000 US troops in Iraq and withdrawing most of them would substantially cut the financial burden of the war on an administration that has promised to cut the federal deficit in half within four years.
Mr Obama recently announced the deployment of an extra 17,000 troops to Afghanistan but he has also promised that soldiers will spend longer at home between overseas deployments.
Mr Obama’s critics argue that he may be withdrawing troops from Iraq before the country’s institutions are stable enough to prevent a descent into chaos and bloodshed.