Obama Won’t Speed Up Iraq Pullout

In yet another instance of lowering the expectations on the campaign promised US pullout from Iraq, President Barack Obama touted the military progress in the nation but ruled out increasing the speed of his current pullout strategy.

The current “pullout” plan, announced a month ago and consisting of the removal of somewhat less than two-thirds of US forces from the nation by August 31, 2010 and the continuation of the war indefinitely beyond that date, falls far short of campaign promises to remove all troops within 16 months of taking office.

But beyond that, is Obama’s defense of what he called “a very gradual withdrawal through the national elections in Iraq” something to be taken at face value, or is his insistance that “we still have a lot of work to do” in spite of claims of military goals being met another step on the road toward backing out of the already limited pullout being promised. Either way it seems safe to say that the war in Iraq will remain an issue for years to come.