Is the following quote the way you understood Obama during the campaign?

';I said that I would remove our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months, with the understanding that it might be necessary 鈥?likely to be necessary 鈥?to maintain a residual force to provide potential training, logistical support, to protect our civilians in Iraq,'; Obama said this week as he introduced his national security team.





Is the following quote the way you understood Obama during the campaign?
No, Obama said all troops out in 16 months....Obama lied, American died.Is the following quote the way you understood Obama during the campaign?
Yep, he also spoke about retaining a strike force capable of taking out insurgents in Iraq for as long as the Iraqi government permitted it. I guess you missed that, eh?





From his web site:





';Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: ending the war. The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 鈥?more than 7 years after the war began.





Under the Obama-Biden plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. They will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.';
Roll back the tapes. At EVERY single Democratic debate, while Edwards and Kucinich were jumping up and down crying ';get out now!'; Obama said AGAIN and AGAIN that ';we need to be as cautious withdrawing from Iraq as we were getting in.';





The problem here is that back during the primaries, you didn't actually listen to the words coming out of Obama's mouth. Instead you relied on Limbaugh and Hannity to twist his words and claim that he wants to ';wave the white flag of surrender';.
At a July 3 press availability in Fargo, North Dakota, Sen. Barack Obama told reporters: ';When I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I'm sure I'll have more information and will continue to refine my policies.'; .





In a March 19 speech, Obama said: ';Let me be clear: Ending this war is not going to be easy. There will be dangers involved -- just as there would be dangers involved with staying indefinitely. We will have to make tactical adjustments, listening to our commanders on the ground, to ensure that our interests in a stable Iraq are met, and to make sure that our troops are secure.';





During an interview on the February 5 edition of Fox News' Fox %26amp; Friends, when asked, ';[I]s there anything that would change your position about pulling out troops ... if he [Gen. David Petraeus] convinces you that we're on the right track?'; Obama began his response by saying, ';Well, what I've been very clear about is that I will always listen to commanders on the ground';:
After hearing him say almost those exact words numerous times during the campaign and debates it leaves little to understand. He is planning on pulling combat troops out of Iraq in phases over the next 16 months, leaving a small training force in place. Now the new Iraqi government may or may not change those plans.



Obama is making much more sense now than when he was campaigning.





It is better for us to fight then in Iraq with the Iraqis leading, as they have for over a year now, and our guys watching their backs. We have serious capabilties there and the Iraqis are getting stronger fast.





I'm a republican who is beginning to warm up to Obama.





I think he has been reading about irregular warfare.
Yes, that's what I thought.





Seriously, with our billion dollar embassy compound capable of housing 1000 people, and other permanent bases (that Bush said we weren't going to have), there's no way Obama would leave those investments unprotected, so naturally we're going to have a ';residual force';.





Right on the money.
no





';during the campaign';





';said this week';





dont delete this. I need to have a good bookmark for when I'm feeling down





I told all of you long ago that while I might be a libertarian, I am more of an independant, and as an Indie, I will burst any pretend bubbles I see
Yep, and I even read between the lines and figured out the residual force would be equal in size to the current force.





Obama's not THAT stupid, only his supporters are. After all, you can't get elected if you don't tell the people what they want to hear.
the Obama bots do not care, he has enough support to start his own personal war in maybe Somalia or Dafur and support Israel in a war with Iran


to them as long as hes on their team they will justify it





he is a neo lib
then-- No, he said he would get out in 16 months no matter what was happening on the ground.








today's quote--


He left out that they would stay for the next 100 years or more......