“Reiterating his agenda, he emphasized his goal of pulling combat troops out of Iraq in 16 months” – i guess he did not hear the 4 or 5 reasons that Obama would keep the troops in!

It is important to hear not just what you want to hear, but all that is said.

I’m not sure what you’re saying here. Are you saying I’ve taken Obama out of context?

I’m saying that Obama gave so many reasons to keep the troops in Iraq that he has made no promise to remove them.

At the press conference, I don’t think that’s true. He said he was ordering Gates and the military to draw up withdrawal plans. He also emphasized wanting to keep his 16-month schedule for withdrawing combat troops, and said the SOFA gives a “glide path” out of Iraq. The SOFA says all troops go home by Dec 2011. So I think I gave a fair reading, and aren’t really sure what you mean when you say Obama gave many reasons to keep the troops in Iraq.

Well, is there a place where i read the entire press conference words so that i can point them out. BTW, Gates won’t have a problem drawing up the plans – he has been workin on just that for a long time, the entire Bush Government has. It was a combination of the increase in troops AND paying the militants to become patriots that worked.

Wars are not simple, just as we had Nazi attacks well into 1948 in Germany, we had to figure out and the Iraqi’s had to figure out how to make the new government work.