“But that promised timeline went by the wayside, and the plan Mr. Obama executed was not his own but George W. Bush’s. The timeline for troop withdrawal by the end of 2011 was established in the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that the U.S. and Iraq agreed to in November 2008, before Mr. Obama took office.
If the administration had its way U.S. troops would remain in Iraq. The White House had pressed Baghdad to allow about six thousand American troops to stay in the country for training, intelligence and air support missions. But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pushed back against U.S. negotiators and demanded that the original timeline be honored. Mr. Obama got none of the things he was negotiating for. It was a complete diplomatic failure.”
— Last night when I went to see Obama speak after my spanish class (and protesting, all day) I heard him run on a campaign of ending the wars and everyone in the crowd was eating it up. So I thought I’d clear things up for everyone and let them all know that Obama did not get us out of Iraq. He wanted us there longer.
