Obama sets date to end Iraq combat mission

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Even as President Barack Obama on Friday promised to end the combat mission in Iraq in 18 months, he and others — from his defense chief to powerful lawmakers — danced around some of the specifics about dates and troop numbers.

Six years after an invasion he opposed and six weeks in office, Obama drew a finish line for the Iraq war, setting a date for the end of the combat mission and vowing to follow that by pulling all troops out by the end of 2011 as per an existing accord with Iraq.

"Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," he said in a speech at the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune. "As we carry out this drawdown, my highest priority will be the safety and security of our troops and civilians in Iraq."

But even with the end of the combat mission, which would come nearly three months later than Obama pledged during his presidential campaign, a U.S. force numbering between 35,000 to 50,000 will stay behind in non-combat roles, with the final troops not slated to leave until Dec. 31, 2011.

"Our enemies should be left with no doubt: This plan gives our military the forces and the flexibility they need to support our Iraqi partners, and to succeed," the president said.

McCain supportive; Reid hesitates
Obama and his national security team briefed lawmakers on the Iraq plan Thursday evening.

Video   McCain 'optimistic' Feb. 27: Sen. John McCain speaks on the Senate floor to support the drawdown strategy. MSNBC

His decision to leave a sizable force was welcomed by some congressional Republicans, including former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, while some Democrats were concerned too many troops would remain in Iraq.

"I am cautiously optimistic that the plan as laid out by the president can lead to success," McCain said Friday on the Senate floor.

"I think the plan is significantly different than the plan Obama had during the campaign," said McCain, referring to Obama’s campaign pledge to pull combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office if possible.

But Democratic congressional leaders — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — both questioned the need for residual forces as large as 50,000.

"I am happy to listen to the secretary of defense and the president," Reid said Thursday night. "But when they talk about 50,000, that's a little higher number than I had anticipated."

Pelosi on Friday issued a statement calling the plan "good news" but also noting a concern about troop numbers. "The remaining missions given to our remaining forces must be clearly defined and narrowly focused so that the number of troops needed to perform them is as small as possible," she said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates added to the debate Friday, telling reporters after Obama's speech that he felt it would be a good idea to keep a small number of U.S. forces in Iraq past 2011 to train Iraqi forces, help with new equipment and perhaps perform intelligence operations.

Eye on Iraqi elections
Obama gave few details about the pace of the withdrawal, but administration sources said it will guided by the needs of Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top commander in Iraq. They said Odierno felt it was important to keep an adequate combat force in Iraq at least until national elections there in December.

One official said Odierno wants a "substantial force on the ground in Iraq to ensure that the elections come off." Another official said Odierno wanted flexibility around the elections. "The president found that very compelling," the official said.

The pace of withdrawal means that although Obama's promised pullout will start soon, it will be backloaded, with most troops returning in the last few months of the time frame.

Obama earlier telephoned Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and former President George W. Bush to brief them on his announcement, the White House said.

Video   Obama's timeline Feb. 27: President Obama plans to pull 65 percent of U.S. troops out of Iraq by summer of 2010, assuming everything goes as planned. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports. MSNBC

Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers in a briefing Thursday that ground commanders in Iraq believe the plan poses only a moderate risk to security, McCain said.

There were no assurances that the residual force would not be pulled into battle should Sunni Muslim insurgent holdouts or disaffected Shiite Muslims resume wide-scale fighting.

Depending on the number of forces left behind, the military will have withdrawn between 92,000 and 107,000 American fighting personnel from Iraq after the United States invaded and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.

According to an AP count as of Thursday, at least 4,251 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003. Total Iraqi deaths are unknown but number in the tens of thousands and are perhaps above 100,000.

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