Decaturight

Troops to be withdrawn from Iraq as conditions improve

(CNSNews.com) - Thanks to the success of the troop surge, America’s engagement in Iraq is on a “strong and steady course” that will allow U.S. troops “to come home in victory,” President Bush said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, Bush announced that over the next several months, about 3,400 combat support forces will come home. This includes aviation personnel, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineers, military police, and logistical support forces.

“By November, we'll bring home a Marine battalion that is now serving in Anbar Province. And in February of 2009, another Army combat brigade will come home. This amounts to about 8,000 additional American troops returning home without replacement,” Bush said.

“Here's the bottom line,” Bush said: “While the enemy in Iraq is dangerous, we have seized the offensive. Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of leading and winning the fight. As a result, we've been able to carry out a policy of ‘return on success’ -- reducing American combat forces in Iraq as conditions on the ground continue to improve.”

CNS News

We can declare victory in Iraq when a democratic, non-agressive country (freed of a despotic dictator who attacked his own people as well as his neighbors and was researching weapons of mass distruction) can sustain itself with assurances of American help should it be invaded by enemies. The trend is in that direction.

Contrast this to what the Democrats called for: Withdrawal while hostlities were still heavy. THAT would have been surrender and defeat.

An Iraqi vet trys to explain it to Mr. Obama:

Conditions in Iraq have improved dramatically

Gen Petraeus said Iraq was a "dramatically changed country" from when he assumed command in February 2007. He said attacks had plummeted from a daily rate of 180 in June last year to about 25 recently. He mused that "there is certainly a degree of hope that was not present 19 months ago.

Asked whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July, he said: "Conditions permitting, yeah."

The number of attacks in Baghdad lately has been . . . probably less than five [a day] on average, and that's a city of 7m people," Gen Petraeus told the Financial Times.

AB | CSM | 9/5/2008

Barack Obama said the US troop surge in Iraq had succeeded beyond anybody's "wildest dreams" prompting Republicans to say he showed poor judgment by at first opposing the operation.

AFP

US & Iraq close to withdrawal plan & security agreement

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday the two countries have agreed that timetables should be set for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the battle-scarred country.

Appearing together at a news conference, Rice and Zebari mutually asserted that a final agreement between Washington and Baghdad on a withdrawal plan and accompanying strategic framework pact is close to fruition — but not there yet.

"We have agreed that some goals, some aspirational timetables for how that might unfold, are well worth having in such an agreement," Rice told reporters after meeting with Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The two sides had come together on a draft agreement earlier this week and Rice made an announced visit to Baghdad to press officials there to complete the accord.

Zebari, asked about fears expressed by neighboring countries over such a pact, said in Arabic: "this decision (agreement) is a sovereign one and Iran and other neighboring countries have the right to ask for clarifications. ... There are clear articles (that) say that Iraq will not be used as a launching pad for any aggressive acts against neighboring countries and we already did clarify this."

A key part of the U.S.-Iraqi draft agreement envisions the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq's cities by next June 30.