Pact, Approved in Iraq, Sets Time for U.S. Pullout
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and STEPHEN FARRELL New York Times Published: November 16, 2008
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s cabinet on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a proposed security agreement that calls for a full withdrawal of American forces from the country by the end of 2011. The cabinet’s decision brings a final date for the departure of American troops a significant step closer after more than five and a half years of war.
-----
The proposed agreement, which took nearly a year to negotiate with the United States, not only sets a date for American troop withdrawal, but puts new restrictions on American combat operations in Iraq starting Jan. 1 and requires an American military pullback from urban areas by June 30. Those hard dates reflect a significant concession by the departing Bush administration, which had been publicly averse to timetables.
-----
In Washington, the White House welcomed the vote as “an important and positive step” and attributed the agreement itself to security improvements in the past year.
-----
As I said, things were pretty much worked out, The Big O is just trying to take the credit.
He has found a giant loophole:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2169157/posts
“With regard to U.S. force levels in Iraq, a newly enacted agreement between Washington and Baghdad sets the legal framework for a timeline of withdrawal. The status-of-forces agreement, which became effective Jan. 1, stipulates that American combat forces pull back from cities and villages to major bases by June 30, 2009.
The deal also calls for all American troops to vacate Iraq by the last day of 2011, though officials point out that a withdrawal timeline is subject to change according to political circumstances.”
By ‘political circumstances’, I am sure they mean their own leftist political base..not any politics in Iraq.
We are screwed and so is our country. MARK MY WORD...Iraq will start blowing up within weeks as the Afghan jihadees pour back into Iraq just as Biden and Obama start sending all of our troops to Afghanistan.