World Newser — Question Of The Day: What Do You Think Of The President’s Iraq Plans?

Happy that Obama made a date for withdraw from IRAQ. Wish it could come sooner. We had no business being in IRAQ in the first place!

About damed time!!!!

I’m a sophomore in high school but yet I follow up on the news and so on and from what I know about Obama’s Iraq withdrwael “idea”, I really disagree with what he is trying to. He plans on talking the troops out of Iraq which I agree with but he is placing them in Afghanistan! Why on earth would Barack want to do that?

It’s about time we did the right thing and get out of Iraq and concentrate on those who actually attacked us from Afghanistan and are now hiding in the Afghan/Pakistan mountains.

We need to pull out of Afgahistan as well as Iraq,why should our men and women die there? Let them protect their own country and own people.

It’s about time. President Obama is leaving the logistics to the commanders on the ground; that is responsible leadership.

It had to happen sooner or later. I applaud the decision to leave and bring our troops home. Far too many lives have been lost, both Americans and Iraq’s Allies can always return if needed.

The plan is a good one; however, it is nothing more than a 4 month shortening of the already agreed upon plan between former President Bush and Prime Minister Malaki of Iraq. And we are supposed to give President Obama some special credit? Give me a break.

GREAT TO HEAR THAT OUR PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS THE GUTS TO END THE BUSH-CHENNEY IRAQ OIL WAR. THEY SHOULD HAVE NEVER STARTED THIS WAR THAT HAS KILLED A LARGE NUMBER OF YOUNG AMERICANS AND HURT AMERICAN FAMILIES.

Glad the war continues to wind down.Where would President Obama’s plan be without the success of the surge which he never supported nor acknowledged its success. Sounds like another politician’s convenient omission. God bless our troops and their families.

Please!!! THe President said he was
ending the war and bringing home our troops on the campaign trail. 50k or 150k troops. We still have troops in harms way. Thanks for nothing.

It’s about time! After 6 years, over 4,000+ dead, (Not to mention the TENS-OF-THOUSANDS of dead Iraqis) and a “50 billion-dollar” war that has turned into near 1 TRILLION-dollars, George W. Shurb’s FIASCO will finally come to an end. Too bad the bleeting sheep that is the American voters didn’t realize what a liar he was! Shrub should have been impeached, tarred and feathered and rode out of Washington on a rail!

President Obama just gave our enemies important, actionable intelligence. Now they can plan their version of the “surge.” Way to go B. Hussein!

War? It was an invasion by the Bush/Cheney administration. We should get out ASAP. We had no business ever being there!

He is clueless. Now the terrorist will just sit back and wait until his announced withdrawl date, and we really will have a terrorist breeding ground, but hey, America is pulling out, not because its the right thing to do, but I believe he doesnt know the right thing to do an almost any situation. He rules by committee. God help our nation.

Pres. Obama’s withdrawal plan is good. We need to get out of Iraq ASAP, and concentrate on Afghanistan and Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden.

There is no way he can completely pull our troops out of any country! They are there to protect us from that country.

I think it’s a great idea to pull out troops. We need to start ending this war.

We should be very careful about withdrawing our troops precipatously, just to maintain a campaign promise. It’s not about Obama and his popularity, it’s about national security for Iraq and our country’s reputation over the world. Let’s not throw away years of toil, blood, sweat and tears gaining victory for the Iraqi people for more popularity for our current president!

I for one am glad that we finally have a strategy for withdrawing our troops that is lead by the ground commanders sugestions.
A lot of people are praising the surge for us being able to even think of a draw down. Unfortunatly if the ground commanders had been listened to in the begining, when they were begging for more and more troops we most likely would have been out by now. The surge helped. Of course it did. However if we had done it sooner, well we wouldnt have spent so much, lost so many troops, nor caused so many casualties.
I am glad we are finally withdrawing.

I think its a pathetic idea because we shall protect the United States from any harm of some sort.

I am in agreement with the presidents plan to withdraw the u.s. troops from Iraq, but I wonder, as I have for sometime, why this administration is not making use, not even mention, of the United Nations. It would be, as it has been in the past, a great tool, as its name suggest, to bring these peace keeking forces its natural arena and therefore take some of responsibity from the U.S.A. during the withdrawl.
Edgar C
N.Y.C.

I think it is great that President Obama is working on getting the troops home. I am unconcerned about him needing to extend his timetable by 3 months. It shows that the President was able to receive all of the intelligence from his military personnel to make a strategic and safe withdrawal.
If he had stuck to his original idea WITHOUT checking in with the military personnel, then he would have been seen as rushing to the decision and not taking into account all of the many intricate details of the withdrawal. Our troops should have never been there in the first place. I thank our President for listening to the voice of the country-Bring our sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers home, as quickly and as safely as possible.

The Presidents decision is a good one, but we must consider as the military role ends, we should continue to strengthen U.S. relations with Iraq with public diplomacy. If we don’t, all the efforts to stablize the nation will be wasted.

Its good news for the terrorists, insurgents and the other threats in the region. Former President Bush’s surge in troop levels played a direct role in President Obama’s ability to actually move forward with the withdrawls. The region will still be unstable even with the proposed troop levels during and immediately after the December elections in the country. The Middle East and America will never be 100% safe until terrorists have hunted down and killed.

I can not believe that ABC News allows their reporters to omit “President” when referring to our President. One reporter in the news piece refers to him as “Mr. Obama” and another refers to him as “Barack Obama”. I am 52 years old and this is the first President that is not consistantly addressed in the formal title of “President”. What is that about? I think it is as disrepectful as the military not saluting in the presence of former President Clinton. Your editors need to be more aware of this “slight” by your reporters. I consider it offense.

ribbons on our doors is SOOOO last president. it’s time for our troops to come home

I think after 6 years of war we need it to end.

I think it is awesome that he will be pulling the troops out in iraq. But you knoe bush said the same thing. President obama will stick to his work because he is an amazing person. The war was all about going to afganastan and well we went after saddam. Two previous president’s had saddam and didn’t take him, so what does that tell you. This country has been fighting since the bible and they will keep fighting so just let them fight and we mind our own busisness. We need to control the fighting in america like race fighting and gang wars. Presdent obama finnally we did it they are coming home can’t wait.

We moved over 500,000 troops to that area in 1990 in a few months, with what now would be considered old technology. We could get 140,000 out in three months, and all the equipment if we wanted to. If they claim otherwise, then they need to get some old fart veterans from the Gulf War era Air Force and Navy to show them how. I’d be glad to help them.

Let’s pack up our duffle bags and head for Afghanistan! We are going to lose that war!

I was never for the Iraq war and I wish he could end it in 6 months. I was most disgusted to read that Iraq had $79 billion in the bank while Americans were paying $4 for a gallon of gas, soldiers were dying for their freedom,and we owed China a trillion dollars. Cant they pay us for their freedom that cost us so dearly?

I keep hearing surge this surge that. We should not have been there in the first place. We have wasted billions there and for what….to kill Sadam and take care of a family vendeta?? We should have built a large force of troops in Afganistan and fought there, not IRAQ. Get our troops home NOW!!!

Will you be willing to give up you’re job to a returning service man or woman from Iraq? Is it too soon? Or has it been long enough?

ALL troops home NOW. i understand “reasoned withdrawal” but to me that’s a six month job. the government has to realize that in this economy we just can’t afford wars. invest in securing the border and airlines—terrorists have no other way in. where will we go next Pakistan? Iran?
the pure loss of life in these conflicts is astounding. as has been mentioned above Iraq has a budget surplus!
stop the wars. bring our troops home.

John Williamson—it’s been long enough. most of us don’t know if we’ll have a job to give up to returning. i find leaving american soldiers in wars just so americans can stay employed morally reprehensible. the troops need to come home and we all will have to deal with unemployment as a nation.

I AM SO GREATFUL THAT FINALLY WE HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO HAS THE GUTS TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND KEEP A PROMISE HE MADE WHILE BEING ELECTED. WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THIS WAR IN THE FIRST PLACE. NOW I HOPE HE WILL DO THE SAME FOR THE OTHER WAR AND JUST MAYBE AMERICA WILL BE BACK ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY AND BE THE GREAT NATION WE SHOULD BE. THUMBS UP MR PRESIDENT.elizabethsassy

While I am glad that President Obama is making good on his pledge to remove troops from Iraq, I feel that any action now is too little, too late. The U.S. should NEVER, ever, have been involved with going to Iraq under such flimsy and circumstantial evidence. Former president George Bush should be damned for what he did in bringing this war, with it’s one trillion price tag. One trillion reasons why it’s too little, too late.

STOPPING MILITARISM AS A WAY OF FOREIGN POLICY MUST END BEFORE WORLD HUNGER CAN BE ENDED.THIS WAR ON TERRORISM WAS CREATED BY BIN LADEN AND WE MUST SEEK OUT AND DESTROY HIS OPERATIONS BEFORE MILITARISM CAN BE ENDED.JUST AS WE DID WITH OPERATION THUNDER RUN AND THE USE OF OVERWHELMING FORCE TO FREE BAGDAD !!

the president made a great desicion which will save trillions of dollars to spend on health care,education,and so much more

i think its about time, every other country, including ourselves, has had to fight for their own freedom, i’m tired of hearing about my borthers and sisters dying, i wish iraq the best.

I think we could do nothing better then pulling out of Iraq. With the economy the way it is, we need to bring all of our Military home. Protect our borders and our citizens. Let unmanned drones do the work of locating and eliminating enemies of the USA.
I am a very non-violent citizens but, we need to protect our people and our interests. Interest do not include OIL but, the people and the continent of America.
Let America be free, free of being the policeman of the World. The citizens of the world need to be concerned with nuclear weapons but, as it appears they want America to be the only ones to fight the fight.
Bring our military home and secure our borders. Stop the weapons when they get to our borders, do not let them in. If the whole military machine is at home we can concentrate on protecting America, instead of policing the planet.

BTW – Obama didn’t “take any credit” in today’s speech. And he also didn’t say that the war was justified.
He thanked the troops for THEIR service and recognzed that THEY accomplisghed the tasks set out for them.
In the PBS interview, he clearly states that “the war was still a mistake” and that the “civilian leadership failed strategically”.

The President is nicer than I would be. I would begin to dismantle every building, pack every vehicle, weapon, etc. and ship it back to the U.S. Don’t leave a bolt! And now!! Maybe even charge Bush and Cheney with a criminal act in federal court. This isn’t realistic, but it is how I feel!

About time. I supported Pres. Bush when he sent our troops in to kick the crap out of Saddam, restore order then get out. But after our troops kicked the crap out of Saddam, he didn’t bring the troops home, he let 4200+ troops die for people who don’t want our type of freedom and he spent a TRILLION dollars while doing that and trying to rebuild Iraq, knowing that when the troops came home the country would revert to what it was before 2003, a bunch of religions !!! that think they all have the correct answers on how the country should be run and they are willing to fight, die and kill anyone who tries to show them a differnt way. Hopefully we won’t spend another trillion sometime after 2011 when our new President or another President in the future again thinks America has to save the world. Why do we have to save the world???

I’ll believe it when i see it!!based on the governments prior history we don’t kno the true facts about anything.yes we have a new president, but we don’t have any new people in our agency’s, so were stuck with kurruptness!!

Without all the detailed information from the military etc. that I don’t feel gets out to the general public I can not say. I have faith in the president. I would like to see our troups come home, they have served with great honor to our country. I realize national security is a concern, and it is a good thing I did not have the power to make the decisions, I would have pulled troups out long ago, and used major bombs to take out the situation long ago. Not sure if many more lives would have been lost. Glad that I don’t have the responsibily for such hard decisions.

They should not have been there to start with. Irag had nothing to do with 9-11. Bush and Cheney need to be tried for the deaths of over 4,000 of our young soldiers, needlessly. They are both war criminals, and need to answer for the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Carl. Oregon

This is just politics as usual. Obama is just moving troops from Iraq and building up in Afghanistan. So he is just moving from one war to another. Our troops are still in a very dangerous part of the world where they do not belong. We need to just pull all of them out of the middle east and let the people there kill themselves. We will never win there.

We all know what will happen in 2011. Anyone remember Vietnam in ’75?
I only hope we haven’t created a new group of Vets who will be told, “You didn’t win…You lost”.

It’s about time! Never should have gone. I support Obama’s plan 100%.

As a retired vet, I believe President Obama’s decision and timetable for extricating us from this mess are better thought out than President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in the first place. At least it is based on unmanipulated intelligence and some candor from the JCS. Unfortunately, President Obama plans to continue to squander our precious resources on a war in Afghanistan that cannot be won. If the Soviets, who wage war properly, like William T. Sherman, couldn’t win in over a decade, employing the proper tactics and three-times the US/NATO troop levels, why do we think we can? Centuries of history reveal Afghanistan cannot be governed by anything remotely close to a western-style centralized government, and is nothing but a death-trap for those foolish enough to attempt to occupy the territory. We are seen as occupiers by the inhabitants of Afghanistan. We need to get out of Afghanistan too, and get back to ruthlessly prosecuting the war on terror and our avowed enemy, Osama bin Laden.
If you were to poll the world’s population to determine who the most popular person on the planet is, you would find it is Osama bin Laden. To most of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims he is a righteous hero operating under a mandate from God. Unless we change our behavior in countries with a majority-Muslim population, bin Laden or his followers are going to execute the fatwa authorizing the use of a WMD to kill up to 10M Americans. We haven’t won a war since 1945, and this is not one we can afford to lose. President Obama needs to get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, implement a fair and respectful foreign policy in SWA, and get his eye back on the war against radical Islamic jihadists.

Now that he has announced the withdrawal date maybe he should change the uniform style from camouflage to bull’s eyes. Imagine being one of the lucky 30k left to fend off an enemy that thrives on preying on us. WHY IS IMPORTANT TO ANNOUNCE EVERYTHING IN PUBLIC? ARE WE JUST CHECKING OFF CAMPAIGN PROMISES?

Train equip and advise? How many years have we been there? They should be trained and equiped by now. Come on!!!!!!

It took three weeks to invade Iraq. It’s ludicrous to claim it will take 16 months to leave (partially at that). In case Obama hasn’t checked with his General Accounting Office lately, our nation is BROKE. There is no more money to police, train, cajole, shoot or blow up any more Iraqis or any other citizens of foreign lands. We are spending over one trillion a year to support an empire that would have made Rome blush. End the insanity. Leave now. Recall all overseas troops, period.

Weapons of mass destruction??? Billions of dollars spent!!! Will we really get a return on our investment? I’m glad we are turning attention back on our needs at home.

We need to stop second guessing this man who has the courage to lead this Country. We’ve been moaning for six years to get out of Iraq and now that President Obama is making it a reality, we’re moaning about that. The previous administration were Iraqi enablers because millions were made in government contracts. Is it a corrupt nation we want or a return to the America that made it the one nation everybody wanted to come to.

I say bring them all home as soon as possible. Afghanistan / Pakistan will soon get very messy and it would not hurt my feelings if he shut that down, as well. If the Russians couldn’t tame the Afghan frontier in 10 years then it probably cannot be done.

I think we will never be out of Iraq! There will always be troops there. Can you tell me why we are still in Japan / Germany / Korea? Why are we still in those countries?

I think we should pull out of Afgahistan as well as Iraq. Why can’t we Americans learn from the previous wars? Before they decide to go into any war in another country in the future, ALL politicians should read the book written by former Secretary of Defense,Mr. Robert S. McNamara,”In Retrospect: The Tregedy and Lessons of Vietnam.”

I think it is a good time frame for withdrawal as it gives the Iraq goverment sufficient time to set up thier strategy for governing. I also think the Democrats that are commenting “it is not within the 16 months he (President Obama) promised” should think a bit more about compromise.

PRESIDENT Obama is Not Seeking or Taking credit. Only those with low self-esteem and insecurity would need to take credit or be justified in their actions. (Hmm…..sounds like the path Bush followed for the last 8 years!)
It’s refreshing to be lead by an individual who has integrity.

take them out of iraq and just spread them into other countries…
were are we headed???
ever hear of world wars!!
thats were we will be in the next year..
sorry to say our young men and woman will be the victims of ignorance.

I think Obama’s troop withdrawal plan is the only lucid plan he’s had since coming into power. Just remember, his plans are as changeable as the West TX wind so don’t hold your breath.

What troubles me so far is that Iraqi troups have had as much as four years of training by US forces, which is overkill considering that US draftees in WWII were trained for a fraction of that time before being sent into battle. I believe that Iraq will assume responsibility more swiftly with Obama’s deadlines provided they are strictly enforced.

I do not trust Obama. I hope that he will consult with the military. As long as he does it will be fine.

Since when do we annouce to our enemies a timeline?????? I cringe when I think what is in store for this great country!The sheeple and the LIBERAL MEDIA need to wake up!

As an American, I am happy to put an end to our occupation in Iraq, however, my concern is announcing the timeline for the withdrawl, could set up our remaining troops for trouble if the enemies focus on attacking again. Also, my concern is that pulling out too soon may cause a backslide to the instability to that country, again, and I don’t want to think that the lives lost already were in vain for the “cause” THAT would be the biggest tragedy by far.

Obama’s plan for Iraq, what about America or my state, California, now on the brink of collaspe. What about the land of the free. Here is the problem, Mr. Obama doesn’t have a plan for America. He says, here, throw some taxpayer’s money into that policy or this fund, perhaps that will work, as the country slides further down the economic scale to financial oblivion. I listen every day to the news here in San Diego, how thousands of illegal aliens cross over our California border to invade our land, and nobody has the political will to stop the flood of criminals coming into out country. That’s right, I said criminals, not Sacramento, not Washington not Homeland Security. They are all out of touch with the problems we face. Welcome to the new world order, of no order whatsoever…Even the new Attorney General says we are a nation of cowards, instead of the Home of the Brave. What kind of message is that to give to the people, he should be fired! We have a government of Benedict Arnold’s, one and all… Now comes my voice, “I Want My Country Back.” George E. Buttner

As it appears now, we will be leaving Iraq under terrible and shameful circumstances.
The supply of electricity is limited at best, on and off. Water is in short supply if available at all and that which is available is putrefied. We bombed the sewage treatment plants prior
to our invasion and sewers are not available.
The largest problem by far is the humanitarian situation. Perhaps 25,000
orphans on the streets begging for an existence to live till the next day, thousands of homeless families also on the streets, children being kidnapped and sold for a profit and potential body parts to sell on the black market.
We have caused almost all this mess, physical and human damage. We therefore have a responsibility to repair it. That
reconstruction was promised, where is it?

Both wars are more complicated than the average American can comprehend. So many promises have been made on several levels to local shieks, tribes, provinces and governments. We can not just leave abrubplty without honoring our promises or words. A “individuals word” is carried heavily in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. We don’t know what promises many Commanders and Generals have made. But to a more important point are either of these government’s militaries and police forces self sufficient? There are still a lot of questions to be answered and measures to take into account before we carefully withdraw from both countries. We don’t want to leave them worse than when we started. There are also a lot logisitcal considerations that need to be taken into account. It takes a lot of money, equipment, and resources to move that many Soldiers out…it is all about planning and strategy people.