 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said he would not speed up troop withdrawals from Iraq, arguing the country was “moving in the right direction” but still needed US help. “No, I think the plan that we put forward in Iraq is the right one, which is let’s have a very gradual withdrawal schedule through the national elections in Iraq,” he said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS program “Face the Nation.”
| That made the surprise meter twitch a little ... |
“There’s still work to be done on the political side, to resolve differences between the various sectarian groups around issues like oil, around issues like provincial elections,” Obama said. “I’m confident that we’re moving in the right direction. But Iraq is not yet completed. We still have a lot of work to do,” he said.
| Wonder if this is what Gates got in return for a soft line on North Korea ... |
“We still have a lot of training of Iraqi forces to improve their capacity.I’m confident, though, that we’re moving in the right direction.”
Obama has ordered an end to US combat operations in Iraq by August 31 next year, but says 50,000 troops will remain under a new mission until the end of 2011. |