US Forces Drawing Down in Iraq

U.S. forces are scheduled to draw down to 50,000 by September 1, 2010 following President Obama’s withdrawal plan. It’s hardly been noticed, but U.S. troops are almost at that level already.

Since 2009 over 60,000 U.S. soldiers have been pulled out of Iraq. In January 2009 when Obama first took office, there were 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. After that, several thousand were withdrawn every couple months, going down to 140,000 in February, 137,000 in March, 134,000 in May, 130,000 in June, etc. According to the spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, there are currently 77,500 U.S. personnel in Iraq as of July 2010.

U.S. Troop Strength In Iraq 2003-2010
May 2003 150,000 – Invasion force
October 2007 171,000 – Height of Surge
January 2009 142,000 – Beginning Obama administration
February 140,000
March 137,000
May 134,000
June 130,000
September 124,000
October 117,000
November 115,000
December 110,000
February 2010 98,000
April 95,000
May 92,000
June 90,000
July 77,500


http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2010/07/us-forces-drawing-down-in-iraq.html

It's 77,500 military personnel. There's a huge difference.

but how much are we paying Blackwater to stay and protect the huge city sized bases and the oil fields?

I just wish they weren't putting them on a plane to Afghanistan (figuratively speaking)

that's certainly good news.

There will be a military presence in Iraq for a long, long time.

What will happen is that they will subjectively rename the mission of the military.
It won't be combat operations, rather "security" or "stabilization".
I'm afraid this would be the same regardless of which party or person was sitting in the WH.

Flame away:/ This is over a decade of military experience talking, not love of the situation.

So instead of spending $100 billion dollars a year to maintain an occupation force, we'll only be spending $60 billion dollars a year.

Expect the cost to actually RISE!

If so, it's not much of an improvement for them, is it?

n/t

Good. Now, we'll watch for the 2011 date in Afghanistan.

Especially when the drawdown in Afghanistan happens. THEN what will the complaints be?

There's never been a President who didn't have complaints. It comes with the territory, I guess.

if only he could get Congressional support for those things. He's managed to get some things through Congress just by the skin of their teeth. I'll just bet that if we could get a stronger, more liberal majority in the Senate, things would start happening like nobody'd believe.

That should be our goal in the 2010 elections. Increase the Senatorial majority.

Wish people would see that.

Wish they would get angry at the republicans instead of being angry at the hampered Democrats.

The Democrats are hampered because they do not have enough Dems VOTED in.

In Oct. 2007, Obama supported removing all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months, saying, “I will remove one or two brigades a month, and get all of our combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months. The only troops I will keep in Iraq will perform the limited missions of protecting our diplomats and carrying out targeted strikes on al Qaeda. And I will launch the diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives that are so badly needed. Let there be no doubt: I will end this war.”

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/02/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_27.php

But during the debate with McCain, the withdrawal became a reduction when he said, “We should end this war responsibly. We should do it in phases. But in 16 months we should be able to reduce our combat troops, provide some relief to military families and our troops and bolster our efforts in Afghanistan so that we can capture and kill bin Laden and crush al Qaeda.”

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/26/debate.mississippi.transcript/

And then in February 2009 the 16 month deadline was extended for 3 more months and the number of troops to remain was defined as 30,000 to 50,000. This was when the current August 31, 2010 deadline was established.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-26-obama-iraq_N.htm

If Obama would have stuck to his original projection, our troops would have been out of Iraq by May 20, 16 months after he was inaugurated.

Edit: 7,000 soldiers were withdrawn last month and another 7,500 so far this month, bringing the current total to 77,500. This means 22,500 need to be withdrawn within the next seven weeks and two days in order to meet Obama's latest goal of 50,000.

What are you trying to do anyway, rain on our Negativity Fest?

I heard him say it. He also said he'd draw down our presence in Iraq. And so he is doing.

on this point ... but they can't act surprised or duped.

He was very clear about it.

In addition, Bush took us into Afganistan, and then IGNORED the place ... at least Obama is paying ATTENTION to the situation there ... and ... he has a plan for assessing progress (or lack there of) with a target of starting withdraw by next summer.

Bush would have called any such milestones, goals or target dates ... cut and run.

Meanwhile ... we have democrats who think Obama is "just like Bush" in this regard.

Nonsense.

Some seem to think it's all just peachy keen that the troop level has increased in Afghanistan because Obama said he would do it. I couldn't disagree more.

This is according to the Brookings Institution Iraq Index, which is cited in your linked blog article. This means 7K were withdrawn during June and according to Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza, who is cited in the referenced WaPo article, another 7.5K have been withdrawn so far this month. That is good news.

It is correct to say that US troop levels in Iraq have hardly been noticed, but I have been paying very close attention. I'm not happy with Obama's current withdrawal plan, but I fully expect him to stick to it by having no more than 50K there by the end of August.

Aren't all the US troops supposed to be out by next year? In anycase, it is hard to imagine an America not entangled in Iraq. I am really happy that we are finally getting out of this place. I know we are going to have a huge embassy, with a lot of security, but so be it.

To all the people who just want to complain about Obama and America, cool down with the hate. However, maybe ya'll just can't help it.

:thumbsup:

I have seen the 77,000 number, but am not sure where that came from.

At any rate, it is good to see a draw down. I hope they meet the 50k by end of August deadline. I am very interested to see the rate of withdrawal from there to zero.

I noted that upthread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8717046&mesg_id=8717490

I remain skeptical about the August 31 deadline but let's hope my suspicion ends up being unjustified. Meanwhile, just like you say, it's good to see another 7,500 get out of there.