Obama promises public support if troops sent off

[nodoginnafight]

Looks like everyone here missed a HUGE part of the statement.
He said he would not send the troops with the support .....
If the support isn't there, he won't send the troops.
He didn't promise to gin up support and he didn't promise to sell his decision, and he didn't promise to deliver EVERY American's support

He said IF there is not enough support (including from the American people) he ain't sending anybody. I hope he is also refering to a proper level of support from the international community and most specifically from nations in the region AND from the Afghan gov't.

 

[Polk]

He campaigned on a lot of other things also.
The troop withdrawal from Iraq that he campaigned on is not happening. The media is ignoring that.

He campaigned to withdraw within 18 months, that is still doable in spite of Republican clamoring that he complete every campaign promise before he's even been in office a year.

It's pretty unreasonable that Repubs of all people are demanding such deadlines when none were placed upon the previous administrative failure.

Sarah, Please, the man is following Bushs guidelines for Iraq that he established before he left office. And that is all he has done with Iraq, other than pull our troops out of the cities where they could actually do some good.

He is wishy washy in Afghanistan, and there is no argument about that.

The so-called "Bush guidelines" for Iraq is what Democrats had been proposing for an extended period, and since he knew it would implemented when they won the election anyway, he did it himself.

 

[alan1]

True. But can he change enough minds to drum up significant if not universal support?
Or in the alternative, does he need to change that many at all? He campaigned strongly on withdrawing from Iraq and shifting focus to Afghanistan. And he won.

He campaigned on a lot of other things also.
The troop withdrawal from Iraq that he campaigned on is not happening. The media is ignoring that.

He campaigned to withdraw within 18 months, that is still doable in spite of Republican clamoring that he complete every campaign promise before he's even been in office a year.

It's pretty unreasonable that Repubs of all people are demanding such deadlines when none were placed upon the previous administrative failure.

First of all, let me make this perfectly clear, I AM NOT A REPUBLICAN, I am a conservative, republicans are not nearly conservative enough.

His campaign promises about about Iraq were were extremely variable, it all depended upon the audience he was speaking to. He was intentionally vague most of the time, as were all the rest of the candidates.

Now, let's talk about 18 months.
In the very best possible situation, if he said, "Remove all troops from Iraq (or Afghanistan), it would take a bare minimum of 18 months to accomplish that from the moment it began. Logistically, it is not an easy thing to extract all the military and their equipment from a foreign country, and even more difficult in a battle zone.

I don't believe he ever actually said he would remove troops in 18 months (maybe I'm wrong on that statement), but if he did say that, he would have had to start on day one of his presidency to accomplish it.