Obama sure is inspirational....

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100da...-officials-say/

Obama's decision reflects his belief that "there have been real advances" in the country and, as result, the U.S. military should now be ordered to carry out "a fundamental change in mission," senior administration officials said.

Funny, all during the campaign he blasted Bush and the "surge" but now that he's been in office a whole 100 days (and made no changes in Iraq at all) there have been "real advances"? Hilarious!

And this war, senior officials said, will officially come to an end on Aug. 31, 2010, when the president orders all U.S. troops to focus their efforts on advising, equipping and training Iraqi security forces as well as assisting in reconstruction and political reconciliation.

Obama also has the devine ability to schedule the end of a war - Amazing! Even planning 18 months ahead of time. I sure hope the insurgents get the message and buy in. Talk about "reaching across the aisle"!

"This is a plan that responsibly ends the war in Iraq," said a senior official who participated in the deliberations. "He is living up to a commitment he made as a candidate but is doing so in a way that has the support of the inter-agency task force on Iraq."

This decree ends nothing, except possibly our participation in the war - which is NOT the same as ending the war. If the job isn't done and we leave, the war is "ended" for us - in a loss. It would be a monumental mistake.

Obama intends to convey his decision about U.S. troop withdrawals by telephone to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki on Friday.

Why bother, he can read about it! Am I the only one that thinks it would be prudent to discuss this with the Iraqis BEFORE going public??

I am not against trying to take the steps to get out of Iraq, but painting yourself into a corner with a timetable like this is a huge mistake. The insurgants now know they only have to hold on for 18 more months and then they can run free with much less resistance.

Not a smart moves, and it sets us up to be publicly embarassed, and endangers the new Iraqi government as the insurgents can lay low, conserve and build resources and then attack in force once we leave.

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Not a smart moves, and it sets us up to be publicly embarassed, and endangers the new Iraqi government as the insurgents can lay low, conserve and build resources and then attack in force once we leave.

You can't be publicly embarrassed if no one ever reports it as an embarrassment.

Somehow, if things go poorly, it will be steered back to a decision that Bush made.