Obama Pressured to Back Off Iraq Withdrawal

[laststeamtrain]

Obama Pressured to Back Off Iraq Withdrawal

Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (IPS) - The promotion of Robert M. Gates as President-elect Barack Obama's secretary of defence appears to be the key element in a broad campaign by military officials and their supporters in the political elite and the news media to pressure Obama into dropping his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in as little as 16 months.
Despite subtle and unsubtle pressures to compromise on his withdrawal plan, however, Obama is likely to pass over Gates and stand firm on his campaign pledge on military withdrawal from Iraq, according to a well-informed source close to the Obama camp.

Within 24 hours of Obama's election, the idea of Gates staying on as defence secretary in an Obama administration was floated in the New York Times, which reported that "a case is being made publicly by columnists and commentators, and quietly by leading Congressional voices of Mr. Obama's own party -- that Mr. Gates should be asked to remain as defence secretary, at least for an interim period in the opening months of the new presidency."

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that two unnamed Obama advisers had said Obama was "leaning toward" asking Gates stay on, although the report added that other candidates were also in the running. The Journal said Gates was strongly opposed to any timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, and it speculated that a Gates appointment "could mean that Mr. Obama was effectively shelving his campaign promise to remove most troops from Iraq by mid-2010."

Some Obama advisers have been manoeuvering for a Gates nomination for months. Former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig publicly raised the idea of a Gates reprise in June and again in early October. Danzig told reporters Oct. 1, however, that he had not discussed the possibility with Obama.

Obama advisers who support his Iraq withdrawal plan, however, have opposed a Gates appointment. Having a defence secretary who is not fully supportive of the 16-month timetable would make it very difficult, if not impossible for Obama to enforce it on the military.

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http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44671

[liberalmuse]

1. Get the fuck rid of Gates...

and all the stink from Bush. What a sucky day for news.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Obama should make as clean a sweep as possible...dump all the BushCo slime.

and then make sure to purify the White House and the West Wing to get rid of all the evil spirits that reside there..

They need to walk into every room with a bunch of burning sage...

[babylonsister]

3. More supposition from unnamed sources? I like Porter,

but I'm not buying this.

[H2O Man]

4. Much of it is true.

Bush & Cheney believed that two other appointments they made in the military chain of command would make it impossible for any democrat to change course in Iraq, at least in the short term. More, some of the Obama people had discussed keeping Gates on, and there has been pressure from a number of people on both sides, both before and since the election, to keep him on.

That does not add up to Obama having decided, or deciding after he takes office, to keep troops in Iraq longer than he said he would. He will be Gates' boss, as well as the Commander-in-Chief. There are plenty of military people who favor reducing the troop levels sooner, rather than staying and fostering more dependence on the US presence there. Obama may be right to keep some of the people like Gates closer to him, to accomplish his goals.

[babylonsister]

5. I meant supposition that Obama has been pressured to back off

on an Iraqi withdrawal. He based his campaign on getting out of there. I can't imagine he's suddenly going to change his mind, especially when increasingly it appears Iraqis want us gone.

[obiwan]

6. Obama said in his campaign promises...

... that he would get us out of Iraq. He will be the boss, and I hope he is a man of his word. Fuck anyone who tries to tell him otherwise.

[screembloodymurder]

7. The fucking military thinks they run this country.

Cut their funding.

[cosmicone]

8. I think Obama will get Colin Powell as SOD and

it will be Colin's chance to redeem himself by withdrawing from Iraq to wash his sins under the Chimp-Crook admin.

[bertman]

11. Colin Powell?? I hope the hell not. The war criminal himself. There are a lot of astute military

officers available other than Powell the War Criminal. Try Wes Clark if you MUST have a military type as SecDef.

On the other hand, I think we would do just fine with a civilian with a brain and good judgment who is not a NeoCon.

[gollygee]

9. What business do the news media have trying to pressure Obama to not leave Iraq?

They're supposed to REPORT the news.

[Truth2Tell]

10. So who exactly are

the "Obama advisers who support his Iraq withdrawal plan?"

And how can we support them?

[99th_Monkey]

12. fuck Gates!! Bring General Fallon out of retirement. He was one of the only ones who spoke out

against the Bush push to attack Iran, and he's certainly no friend of Gen. "ass-kissing little chickenshit" Petraeus.

[bigwillq]

13. Obama must not back down

from his withdrawal plans.

[Life Long Dem]

14. And the media is not running Obama's administration the way Bush was running his administration.

Or at all for that matter.

[byronius]

15. Unnamed Obama advisors? Do they mean William Ayers? Or Reverend Wright?