Reply #226: No, it's not just gone from 16 months to a partial withdrawal by August.

[Lasher]

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 the 16 month deadline was extended for 3 more months. But that happened in February 2009. When you said, "Obama Scraps Iraq Withdrawal", most people assumee you are talking about the plan announced at that time (the current plan), the one that sets forth a goal of 50,000 or fewer soldiers no later than August 31, 2010.

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

So it's not just gone from a full withdrawal to a partial one. That happened in 2008. And it didn't just change from 16 to 19 months, that happened in February last year.

Further, it is not true to say that the partial withdrawal won't start until it's almost August. In January 2009 there were 142,000 US soldiers in Iraq. Early this month the Associated Press reported that the troop level is 92,000.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvmAWUYlSdOQZoyLrXyba6cSNpIgD9FKPHEO0

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Centers/Saban/Iraq%20Index/index.pdf (scroll to page 19).