Obama Faces Flak From Antiwar Movement Over Iraq Withdrawal Timing
Add another problem to President Obama's growing list of concerns. Members of the antiwar movement, which was instrumental in helping him win the Democratic presidential nomination last year, are expressing increasing concern about the pace of his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
Obama promised during the campaign to remove combat troops within 16 months of taking office. That has now slipped to 19 months, and Obama, on the advice of the military, says he will maintain a residual American force there as long as is necessary after that. All U.S. troops are to be out of Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, a deadline set by Iraq and the United States under an agreement made during George W. Bush's administration.
Leaders of United for Peace and Justice, an antiwar organization, have scheduled a news conference Thursday in New York to mark the sixth anniversary of the start of the war. In a statement E-mailed to reporters this morning, a spokesman noted, "With President Obama's recent announcement of his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, the antiwar movement, including military families and veterans, is concerned that the timeline for complete withdrawal is too long. In the year and a half before combat troops are brought home—and the almost three years before all U.S. forces are removed from Iraq—we ask how many more Iraqi civilians and U.S. service people will die and how many billions of our tax dollars will be spent?"
The antiwar movement plans to hold a march on Wall Street on April 4.
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Reader Comments
Just Another Politician
Acccording to the most recent poll, Obama has 80% of the public supporting his policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. So apparently he's not all that worried about opposition from anti-war groups. Obama just doesn't want to be the one to end the wars and be blamed for consequent turmoil that might arise in Iraq. And he's apparently buying the generals' views that we can "win" in Afghanistan by sending more troops. What else would the generals say? Does anyone remember General Westmoreland in Vietnam? There we lost over 50,000 troops for nothing.What will be the tally in Iraq and Afghanistan? What a tragedy; and as long as the American public continues to accept this insanity it's going to continue. I saw Obama on 60 Minutes tonight talking about how hard it is to sign condolence letters to families who have lost family members in these wars. I voted for Obama but his hypocrisy repels me. He could have substantial numbers of troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan in 3 to 6 months if he were serious about it. But he's not. He doesn't want to risk his political well-being and justifies his failure to end the warfare by quoting the generals. Just another politician. Can this country produce anything but mediocrities any more? What a tragedy.
Iraq Troop Pullout
My thoughts are summed up in my book, Reflections on the War of the Willing.
Duped
When will Americans wake up to the fact that they are manipulated into voting for the establishments choices? I think never.
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