Anti-War Groups Will Back Obama’s Troop Withdrawal Delay
President Obama is reportedly preparing to announce that he will order American combat troops to be out of Iraq by August of 2010, a deadline that’s months later than the one promised during the campaign.
But don’t expect the leading anti-war groups to make any noise about it. Antiwar leaders I spoke with this morning left little doubt that they’ll support Obama’s time-line.
MoveOn’s national campaign director, Nita Chaudhay, tells me that the group won’t make an issue of the delay, which apparently is meant to appease military commanders, because they’re thrilled that he’s sticking by a time-line.
“The bottom line is that our members, and Americans everywhere, are so incredibly pleased to have a president who’s finally putting in place a concrete plan to end this war,” Chaudhary says. “Do we wish they could come home sooner? Of course we do. At the same time, there’s a date certain for this war to be over.”
“The fact that the President is sticking with a time-line that is at least close to the one he announced during the campaign is a good thing,” adds Tom Andrews, a former Congressman who is national director of the Win Without War coalition. “He was under tremendous pressure to back off of a time-line.”
There’s still the prospect of some more friction from the left, however. Antiwar leaders want to see a clearer sense of how many residual forces will remain — today’s Times suggested the possibility of as many as 55,000 — and what precisely their mission will be. They also want Obama to reaffirm his commitment to the Iraqi Parlimanent’s Status of Forces Agreement, which would set the end of 2011 as the deadline for all troops to be out.
“It’s important that the administration makes clear that it fully supports these firm deadlines,” Andrews continued. “And we need to be much clearer about the role the residual forces are going to have. We hope to see clarification when he makes his announcements.”
Something to keep an eye on.
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I guess I’ve made it clear how I feel about “friction from the left.” Basically: put a sock in it right now – let him do things his way and until he gives us any real reason to think he’s not going to keep his promises, assume he will because he is.
I figured you’d say that, Tena …
I don’t disagree with you, Tena, but the 30 to 50 thousand troops that will be left behind under the plan give me serious pause.
Great post, but I think ‘Chaudery’ –> ‘Chaudhary’
I think there’s friction and then there’s friction, Tena. I think pressure from antiwar forces is a good thing, because we know there’s tremendous pressure from the other side, and I don’t think it’s safe to assume that Obama knows what matters to us and will automatically give it appropriate weight. But I have no patience for people who see any compromise or adjustment as a betrayal, as a “sign” that he doesn’t really intend to keep those promises.
I think the statements quoted above take just the right tone — making it clear that people still care about getting this done, and that we’re not going to quibble about details while applauding the continued commitment to it from the administration. Mentioning the issue of residual troop levels makes it clear that we’re not assuming there’s anything wrong there, but we’re keeping an eye on it. That’s how you keep up the pressure in a positive way.
Jack Russell,
For what it’s worth, President Obama’s campaign pronouncements were very consistent in stating his intentions on removing combat troops from Iraq while leaving a residual force. Several thousand troops will be necessary for continued training of the Iraqi military as well as general and logistics for those troops. He was also consistent in stating the need to keep a sizable number of troops in the region (likely in Kuwait) to support the Iraqi government and defend against any threats to our troops remaining in Iraq. I’ll reserve judgment until I hear specifics, but so far, the tease of this announcement has been largely consistent with his previous pledges. Hell, you could say that about his whole term thus far… In turbulent seas, steady as she goes!
Greg– The Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, which is a consortium of more than thirty religiously oriented peace orgs is still continuing its pressure to end the war as soon as possible. We are hosting an event for the third year in a row, this time at the DC Convention Center on Obama’s 100th day followed by Direct Action the next morning. We are hopeful the President will bring the troops home but if he doesn’t, he will, in fact, take heat from the left.
Obama DOES face REAL liberal opposition to not only his delayed timeline on Iraq, but now his LIES being exposed, as the Pentagon has admitted “noncombat” troops could see combat.
Read the last three or four posts on Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus.
I didn’t think Move On was a peace group, but a multi issue, support the democratic party change group. We have men and women resisting and in jail, in Canada, or AWOL living underground in the states. The chances of the current administration granting amnesty while we continue to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan are slim – closer to none. We need to bring the troops home and free our prisoners of conscience now. Most of the anti war groups I know of are demanding immediate withdrawal.
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