Iraq war over? (in Debates)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204618704576645150219910400.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


You guys think Obama waited until a re-election on purpose to sway the voters? I really hope that's not the case >.> ..

i would think that in this manner any president would listen to his military advisers over his campaign managers. ; )

this has also been the plan for a while. here is an article from over december of last year.

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central/stripes-central-1.8040/iraq-drawdown-still-unlikely-until-summer-2011-1.128123

i seem to remember hearing much earlier in the year though that the military advisers were saying it would be a couple of years before we could really pull out.

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/10/21/iraq-not-obama-called-time-on-the-u-s-troop-presence/

The two sides were negotiating to keep troops in Iraq, but could not agree on the conditions (number of troops, immunity for US troops, and Iraqi internal divisions were the main points of contention). This is not an "Obama ends the war because of the election" thing. This is a failure of the US and Iraq to reach an agreement.

4,000 to 5,000 security contractors will remain in Iraq.

Here are some relevant numbers:
8 years, 260 days since Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence of Saddam Husseinﾒs biological weapons program
8 years, 215 days since the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq
8 years, 175 days since President George W. Bushﾒs ﾓMission Accomplishedﾔ speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln
4,479 U.S. military fatalities
30,182 U.S. military injuries
468 contractor fatalities
103,142 ﾖ 112,708 documented civilian deaths
2.8 million internally displaced Iraqis
$806 billion in federal funding for the Iraq War through FY2011
$3 ﾖ $5 trillion in total economic cost to the United States of the Iraq war according to economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Blimes
$60 billion in U.S. expenditures lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001
0 weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq