February 26th, 2009: Obama Exit Plan
President Obama Speaking in front of troops
On February 26, 2009, while sending 30,000 troops to Iraq, President Barack Obama vowed to start bringing American forces back home in the middle of 2011.The reasons were that the United States could not afford and should not have to shoulder an open-ended commitment. To bring the war to a “successful conclusion”, President Obama set a strategy seeking to reverse Taliban gains in Afghanistan, to better protect the Afghan people, and to increase the pressure on Afghanistan to build its own military capacity, more effective government, and step up attacks on Al Qaeda in Pakistan. The President talks of (seemingly contradictorily goals about) expanding American involvement in the war while at the same time bringing it to a close. Administrative officials say that President Obama is calculating that the promise of a draw down will give the impression upon the Afghan government that his commitment is not open-ended. Among Democrats, opinions range from noncommittal to downright opposition. With the currently weak and struggling American economy, the president conceded that the new strategy would carry a heavy price tag; he put an additional 30 billion dollars into the first year. This event in the Iraq war is important, because it shows signs of efforts in ending this war, the difficulties of this effort, and the sacrifices necessary in making the decisions.
