New Options for Obama to Withdraw from Iraq

The White House is reviewing several options to withdraw its forces from Iraq within a 16 month timetable. President Barack Obama promised in his election campaign that the withdrawal would take 23 months.

Under the White House’s request, U.S. military counselors offered the president a withdrawal schedule of 19 months according to an anonymous quote from a U.S. official in McClatchy News.

Another official in Defense said: “We know that they prefer the 16-month schedule but, we illustrated the consequences and other withdraw options”.

Different newspapers announced that the White House received evaluations of potential consequences for 16, 19 and 23 month withdrawal scenarios. Obama warned in his first meeting with the Pentagon in December that he will have to make difficult decisions about Afghanistan and Iraq. In his first week in the White House, Obama asked military leaders to draw up reasonable withdrawal plans from Iraq, where 142 thousand soldieres are stationed. Military leaders fear that a hasty withdrawal from Iraq will threaten the security situation.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the 16-month withdrawal is one of the options that is being evaluated, barring a decline in Iraq’s security situation. Gates said after his meeting with Obama on January that “I think we must present a series of options and its consequences to the president, and then he will choose.”

McClatchy News announced that Obama will likely announce his Iraq strategy next March; on the other front, Obama will soon approve sending reinforcements to Afghanistan. He considers the war in Afghanistan a priority, where another thousand soldiers will go towards trying to crush the Taliban. There are currently 36 thousand soldiers in Afghanistan.