2013? Get Our Troops Out Now: Gov Richardson Huff Post OPED

[seasat]

Bill Richardson posted this article on the 28th. The comments are already in the 100s:

They all change the mission and leave troops in Iraq. I end the war and get all the troops out.

Edwards and Obama have said that they will get the combat troops out of Iraq. But they would leave behind tens of thousands of other troops unprotected, in the middle of a civil war, indefinitely. It doesn't make any sense.

Clinton told her own military advisors that she expects to have troops in Iraq at the end of her second term in office, in 2017.
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It really isn't complicated: we need to end this war. For the stability of the region, the safety of our troops, and the security of our nation, we need to end this war. I am the only major candidate who will get all of our troops out of Iraq, with no troops left behind.

For those that claim Bill Richardson isn't being honest because he would leave a detachment to guard the embassy. Here's what he said on the subject.

But if it said 1,000 to protect the American embassy, that's fine with me. It's a Marine detachment. It's part of our diplomatic corps. I wouldn't even consider that a residual force. Of course I would permit that. But residual forces -- 5,000 to guard an embassy -- that means that the embassy is not safe. I would pull the embassy if it is not safe.

The embassy guard is a specialized marine unit that is in our embassies all around the world and no one reasonable would equate them to combat forces in Iraq. In addition, embassy property is considered the territory of the country that owns the embassy, if you want to argue semantics over it.