# Did Obama try to delay US troop withdrawal from Iraq? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 15, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723 "2008-09-15T18:03:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/61 "2008-09-19T06:57:27Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > While I was enjoying watching this conversation unfold, this thread had boiled down to\*\* Magiver \*\*putting his or her fingers in his or her ears and saying _“lalalalalala…I can’t hear youuuuuuu…lalalalala”…_ Interesting, since I’m the only one posting actual information how did you come to that conclusion? Elucidator wanted to argue about Kerry and now ships. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/62 "2008-09-19T11:04:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > That doesn’t make any sense. Obama asked that negotiations be delayed 6 months. If you read the original post you would have seen that by doing this it would have landed in the middle of Iraqi elections which would have slowed it down even more. > > The UN mandate ends this year and these negotiations are necessary to continue the process. For the Cindy Sheehan crowd who thought the Democrats were actually going to walk away from Iraq the reality of the situation came out in the campaigns. We will not be pulling out like Obama originally touted. The post war process of withdrawing troops requires an orderly, negotiated program, which Obama attempted to delay. Fortunately his attempt failed. The problem is the conclusions you’re drawing are just fabrications. The process of withdrawing troops does not require any negotiating. It’s the troops _staying there_ that requires negotiating as Raveman’s link clearly shows. from the OPs link > [@](#): > > “However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open.” Zebari says. Zebari, the man you have quoted, says it’s about regulating the activities of foreign troops. That would be the ones staying,…not the ones leaving. Once the troops are withdrawn there is no need for the Iraqis to be concerned about their activities right? The evidence is against you. Do you deny that troops have already been withdrawn? ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/63 "2008-09-19T11:13:52Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Interesting, since I’m the only one posting actual information how did you come to that conclusion? Elucidator wanted to argue about Kerry and now ships. Wow again!! You’re saying **Raveman** hasn’t provided any information? Did you bother to read his link which leads to the Council on Foreign Relations and an article on Security agreements in Iraq? You’ve shown you’ll insist you’re correct despite the evidence that shows you’re not while offering no evidence of you’re own other than conclusions based on partisan bias. Not really a unique tactic , but hardly a debate at this point. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/64 "2008-09-19T11:21:59Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Lets try another approach. If what you say is true, and so perfectly obvious to even the meanest intelligence…why so little airplay on it? I mean, something like this would blow Obama right ouf of the water (if it were true). Where’s all the pinched sphincters on this, your Rush, your Hannity, your O’Reilly? Have they too much good taste? Too circumspect, don’t want to be rude? Too nice? Do they cringe in fear of the vengeance from Daily Kos and Move On? > > Isn’t the simplest explanation that you’ve been had? But good? I’m actually a little surprised we haven’t seen more of it. It seems like the kind of falsehood they like to get out there and make noise about, even though they know it will be shown to be bogus. Perhaps it’s circulating under the mainstream media so it won’t be outed as bullshit quite so quickly. The big lies in the mainstream are getting busted much quicker this election. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/65 "2008-09-19T13:28:29Z")
Since **Magiver** has avoided answering my simple question, let me share something from today’s news. > [@](#): > > Bush has already offered significant concessions to the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in the negotiations, including his willingness to accept a specific date for withdrawing American forces: the end of 2011. … > > In agreeing to specific dates as a goal for troop withdrawals, Bush has had to soften his earlier warnings that deadlines were counterproductive. Bush also agreed to withdraw American troops from Iraqi cities by next July and base them in comparatively remote areas, except during operations. > > **Administration officials emphasized that those deadlines were “aspirational”** and could be shifted if security in Iraq did not continue to improve. [http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/19/africa/19diplo.php](http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/19/africa/19diplo.php) So, at the very worst, Obama may be guilty of casting doubt on Bush’s aspirations. Whoop-de-freaking-doo. ---
**Author:** ![focusonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@focusonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/focusonz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/66 "2008-09-19T14:09:00Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > So, at the very worst, Obama may be guilty of casting doubt on Bush’s aspirations. Whoop-de-freaking-doo. Guilty as charged! Punishment TBD. > [@](#): > > the Logan Act- Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. > > ``` > This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects. > > ``` > > [Logan Act - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Act) > [18 U.S. Code § 953 - Private correspondence with foreign governments | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000953----000-.html) ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/67 "2008-09-19T19:35:07Z")
New info out today: [ABC News](http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/undermining-mcc.html) Jake Reed (D-RI), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and U.S. Ambassador Crocker all back up the Obama campaign’s denials of the accusation in the NY Post article. It seems likely now that Zebari (or more likely Tehari) confused the Strategic Framework Agreement with the Status of Forces Agreement. Not too surprising when you consider the source is the same guy that said the Iranians were making Jews were star patches (amongst other stories since proven false). But hey, it got the “Obama hates America” meme out there for another few days, so job well done! ---
**Author:** ![focusonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@focusonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/focusonz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/68 "2008-09-19T20:03:51Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > New info out today: > > [ABC News](http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/undermining-mcc.html) > > Jake Reed (D-RI), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and U.S. Ambassador Crocker all back up the Obama campaign’s denials of the accusation in the NY Post article. It seems likely now that Zebari (or more likely Tehari) confused the Strategic Framework Agreement with the Status of Forces Agreement. Not too surprising when you consider the source is the same guy that said the Iranians were making Jews were star patches (amongst other stories since proven false). But hey, it got the “Obama hates America” meme out there for another few days, so job well done! Not quite there: [QUOTE=ABC News] Two officials of the Bush administration say that if Obama had done what the Post story asserted – which they **believe** to be untrue. If such an incident occurred **in front of officials** of the Bush… “Senator Obama needs to reveal what he said to Iraq’s Foreign Minister during their **closed door meeting**. [http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/undermining-mcc.html](http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/undermining-mcc.html) [/QUOTE] In politics Obama is still guilty until proven innocent. Punishment TBD. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/69 "2008-09-19T20:13:22Z")
What “closed door meeting” would that be, exactly? Cite that one ever took place. I see you conveniently omitted the fact that the only one make such an allegation is a McShame spokeshole. I also notice that you completely omitted the part that followed that, which reads: > [@](#): > > What actually demands an explanation is why the McCain campaign was so willing to give credence to such a questionable story with such tremendous international implications without first talking to Republicans present at Obama’s meeting with Maliki, who back Obama’s version of the meeting and completely dismiss the Post column as untrue. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/70 "2008-09-19T20:14:17Z")
> [@focusonz](#): > > Not quite there: Did you actually read the whole thing?? The second quote in your post is from the McCain representative Randy Scheunemann, not someone with any first-hand knowledge of the meeting in question. The article itself quotes Bush administration officials that do have direct knowledge of the meeting. Basically, Scheunemann didn’t know what he was talking about (how could he, he wasn’t there). The money quote from ABC: [QUOTE=ABC News] Buttry said that Hagel agrees with Obama’s account of the meeting: Obama began the meeting with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by asserting that the United States speaks with one foreign policy voice, and that voice belongs to the Bush administration. A Bush administration official with knowledge of the meeting says that during the meeting Obama stressed to Maliki that he would not interfere with President Bush’s negotiations concerning the US troop presence in Iraq, and that he supports the Bush administration’s position on the need to negotiate as soon as possible the Status of Forces Agreement, which deals with among other matters US troops having immunity from local prosecution. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/71 "2008-09-19T20:33:47Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > …spokeshole… 🙂 Made my day. ---
**Author:** ![focusonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@focusonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/focusonz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/72 "2008-09-19T22:14:58Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Did you actually read the whole thing?? yep! I was able to ignore all the fluff that did not pertain to the question “Did Obama try to delay US troop withdrawal from Iraq?”. [QUOTE=Shayna] Cite that one ever took place. [/QUOTE] Minister Hoshyar Zebari was quoted. [QUOTE=NYPost] “\*\*Obama has tried in private \*\*to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence,” Post columnist Amir Tehari wrote, quoting Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July. [http://www.nypost.com/seven/09152008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obama\_tried\_to\_stall\_gis\_iraq\_withdrawal\_129150.htm](http://www.nypost.com/seven/09152008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obama_tried_to_stall_gis_iraq_withdrawal_129150.htm) [/QUOTE] And repeating [QUOTE=ABCNews] Two officials of the Bush administration say that if Obama had done what the Post story asserted – which **they believe** to be untrue. If such an incident occurred **in front of officials** of the Bush… [QUOTE=McCain] “Senator Obama needs to reveal what he said to Iraq’s Foreign Minister during their **closed door meeting.** [/QUOTE] [http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...ining-mcc.html](http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...ining-mcc.html) [/QUOTE] Believe is acceptance as fact without proof. They were or were not present in all meetings. Since they said believe this lends credence to a private meeting. ‘in front of officials’ again suggest that there was another private meeting. ABC, of course, would never ask the most telling question “Was there a private meeting?” because the answer would incriminate the messiah. But Zebari don’t like and distrusts Obama!!! So this whole thing could have been a setup by Zebari to get the messiah in hot water and to that end it has been successful. Way to go Zebari . [QUOTE=WashingtonPost] Mr. Zebari, who has served as foreign minister in every Iraqi government since 2003, finds Mr. Obama’s proposal worrying. In a meeting with Post editors and reporters Tuesday, he said that after all the pain and sacrifices of the past five years, “we are just turning the corner in Iraq.” A precipitous withdrawal, he said, “would create a huge vacuum and undo all the gains and achievements. And the others” – enemies of the United States – “would celebrate.” [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/17/AR2008061702034.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/17/AR2008061702034.html) [/QUOTE] ABC could have proved innocence by asking one question of the two officials. Alas, In politics Obama is guilty until proven innocent. Punishment TBD. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/73 "2008-09-20T00:52:13Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > From the cite listed above: > > \*\*But Obama’s national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said Taheri’s article bore “as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign commercial.” > > In fact, Obama had told the Iraqis that they should not rush through a “Strategic Framework Agreement” governing the future of US forces until after President George W. Bush leaves office, she said\*\* Quacks like a duck. > > Maybe Obama should tell his national security spokeswoman. Quacks like a whippoorwill. So far as I can tell from [this,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_Forces_Agreement#Status_of_Coalition_forces_in_Iraq) the proposed Status of Forces Agreement does not include any troop withdrawal timetable, so Obama cannot be accused of delaying troop withdrawal if he delays that agreement – which is out of his hands anyway; no way were the Iraqis going to agree to it. They will accept no agreement that does not include a timetable. Which Obama, if elected, might give them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/74 "2008-09-20T01:16:37Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I don’t have to ask myself anything. He lied in front of Congress. He did not experience the information he testified to. He had no proof of what he said to Congress. NONE. He **said** he was just repeating what other soldiers had told him, and he was. So? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/75 "2008-09-20T02:00:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Quacks like a whippoorwill. So far as I can tell from [this,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_Forces_Agreement#Status_of_Coalition_forces_in_Iraq) the proposed Status of Forces Agreement does not include any troop withdrawal timetable, so Obama cannot be accused of delaying troop withdrawal if he delays that agreement – which is out of his hands anyway; no way were the Iraqis going to agree to it. They will accept no agreement that does not include a timetable. Which Obama, if elected, might give them. Someone actually researched something. Congrats. We have something to debate. Looking at Ravenman’s original cite (with no commentary) from the Council on Foreign Affairs you see that SOFA is tied to troop withdrawal. The Iraqi Parliment would not accept the agreement without it: \*\*In a letter released June 4, 2008, Iraqi parliamentarians said the bilateral agreements being penned between Baghdad and Washington must “obligate the occupying American military forces to fully withdraw from Iraq.” \*\* This is supported by your cite: **On July 8, 2008, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani rejected the proposed agreement on the basis that it violates Iraqi sovereignty, following a meeting with Iraq National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie.[10] Rubaie, clarifying remarks by Maliki on July 7 that Iraq would accept a memorandum of understanding in lieu of a SOFA, stated "We will not accept any memorandum of understanding if it does not give a specific date for a complete withdrawal of foreign troops.** The process of SOFA was tied to troop withdrawals and Obama attempted to delay this process. Without a SOFA agreement after the end of the UN mandate the troops would have no legal defense at all. This would make every action of self defense a civil matter. The UN mandate ends this year and Obama was asking that negotiations BEGIN after the next administration takes over (and thus after the UN mandate ends). Without a troop withdrawal agreement SOFA would not occur. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/76 "2008-09-20T02:20:25Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Looking at Ravenman’s original cite (with no commentary) from the Council on Foreign Affairs you see that SOFA is tied to troop withdrawal. Since you’re back to the thread, let me repeat my question: Do you believe that once the UN mandate expires, and if there never is an agreement between Iraq and the US, that US troops will be prohibited from ever leaving Iraq? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/77 "2008-09-20T02:39:00Z")
From today’s ABC cite: > [@](#): > > …this July meeting was also attended by Bush administration officials, such as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the Baghdad embassy’s legislative affairs advisor Rich Haughton, as well as a Republican senator, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. > > Attendees of the meeting back Obama’s account, including not just Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., but Hagel, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers from both parties. Officials of the Bush administration who were briefed on the meeting by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad also support Obama’s account and dispute the Post story and McCain attack. **Magiver** , Bush administration officials and other Republicans who were present at the meeting in question back up Obama’s account of what he said. Are they lying too? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/78 "2008-09-20T02:49:37Z")
You can’t delay something isn’t moving. You run over a dried armadillo pie on Rt. 7 outside of Lubbock, you are not delaying the armadillo. He has no appointments to meet. It’s al-Sistani, as you noted above. al-Sistani has brokered a peace deal between the al-Maliki factions (which supports Iran and would like to keep American troops to kill their enemies) and the Sistani faction, (which supports Iran and wants American troops gone, soonest, being the enemies cited above). The Malikites keep a lot, they keep at least the illussion of control, and are in a position to milk America for every last dollar of “aid” they can squeeze, and determine which partiotic Iraqi hands they belong in. The price they pay is American troop withdrawal, sooner rather than later, here’s your hat, hello, you must be going. Its kind of like the Pope cutting a deal between the Corleones and the Barzinis. The Bushiviks are yet hoping that they’re kidding, that they can paper it all over with a few platitudes and vague ideas like “aspirational goals” but it ain’t gonna happen. Once al-Sistani went public, it was over. As it happens, the Iraqis also have a list of conditions they demand be met for any, repeat, any number of troops to remain in Iraq, for any purpose whatsoever. Thats the part of status of forces that is wholly divorced from the issue of withdrawal deadlines. And it is the most toxic poison pill evah, there is no way, no chance, none, that GW will consent to the degree of control and vulnerability to Iraqi law that is demanded. There is no withdrawal to delay because the Bushiviks are resisting it to their last breath, or Jan 20, whichever comes first. So, he and Maliki are playing chicken. Bush can’t flinch, his legacy depends on it. But Maliki can’t flinch because his very ass depends on it. What was Obama talking to him about? Well, I hope for one thing he was getting some idea of who he might be dealing with, in that, I can only hope he is a better judge of character than GeeDub, who can peer into the soul of a KGB _apparatchik_ and not run screaming from the room. But he wasn’t interfering with troop withdrawal because no such troop withdrawal exists, nor has he the slightest power to affect that. But he might, if the Goddess shall cease to avert Her eyes… ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/79 "2008-09-20T02:54:41Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Since you’re back to the thread, let me repeat my question: > Do you believe that once the UN mandate expires, and if there never is an agreement between Iraq and the US, that US troops will be prohibited from ever leaving Iraq? The reason I didn’t answer before is it’s not a real question. Of course we can withdraw the troops. The reality of it is that we will withdraw in a controlled manner. People like Cindy Sheehan actually believed the political hyperbole that Democrats would simply withdraw from Iraq. It’s sad that she was tossed aside after being used for political purposes but that was inevitable. Political rhetoric always morphs closer to reality after the Primaries and this is no exception. If you look at Primary Obama he wanted troops out of Iraq by [March 31 of 2008](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/30/AR2007013001586.html). Presidential candidate Obama wants troops out by 2010ish (except for a residual force to conduct counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda). ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723/80 "2008-09-20T02:57:06Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > From today’s ABC cite: > > **Magiver** , Bush administration officials and other Republicans who were present at the meeting in question back up Obama’s account of what he said. Are they lying too? Well since his spokeswoman says he wanted to delay the process and they’re agreeing with him then no, they’re not lying. There is no doubt that he tried to delay negotiations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-try-to-delay-us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq/463723.md?page=5)