Analysis: Military split over Iraq pullout

[unhappycamper]

n this Feb. 15 picture, U.S. soldiers stand guard after a road side bomb blast in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, in Baghdad, Iraq. One person was killed and 18 were wounded, police said. President Obama faces split opinions within the military on whether to make the speedy withdrawal from Iraq he championed on the campaign trail.


Analysis: Military split over Iraq pullout
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Feb 21, 2009 9:22:45 EST

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama faces split opinions within the military on whether to make the speedy withdrawal from Iraq he championed on the campaign trail.

Obama’s top generals in Baghdad are pressing for an elongated timetable, while some influential senior advisers inside the Pentagon are more amenable to a quicker pullout.

Although Obama has yet to decide the matter, his announcement last week that he’s sending thousands more combat troops to Afghanistan implies a drawdown of at least two brigades from Iraq by summer.

But that does not answer the question that has been dangling over Iraq since he took office in January: Will Obama stick to his stated goal of a 16-month pullout or opt for a slower, less risky approach?

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American commander in Baghdad, favors a longer timetable for leaving Iraq. He sees 2009 as a pivotal year, with parliamentary elections set to be held in December; he doesn’t want to lose more than two of the 14 combat brigades that are now in Iraq before the end of the year. And he believes the U.S. military will need to remain engaged in Iraq, to some degree, for years to come.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_iraq_pullout_differences_022109/%2e