Obama should pull out of Iraq by July

Published: Jan. 21, 2009 at 4:58 PM
Order reprints | Feedback

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama should pull as many U.S. troops from Iraq as possible before Iraqis vote on the Status of Forces Agreement in July, a scholar says.

The Iraqi government said it would put the Status of Forces Agreement to a vote in July. Baghdad could order all U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2010 if the measure fails at the polls, leaving military officials scrambling to organize a hasty withdrawal.

"Such a tight withdrawal deadline would be very difficult to meet in an orderly fashion -- especially if Washington has not made a robust effort to extract as many troops and equipment as possible by this July," writes Wayne White, an Iraq specialist and former State Department official serving as an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

White predicts a "significant" uptick in the level of violence as U.S. forces pull back to their military bases in June under the terms of the agreement, as the primary security buffer between rival political, sectarian and ethnic entities dissipates.

The Obama administration, however, should maintain its resolve to pull American forces from Iraq if such violence materializes and the Iraqi government pressures Washington to send U.S. troops back into the streets, he argues.

"A swift and orderly withdrawal from Iraq would best serve overall U.S. interests," he notes. "That is the standard against which the new administration must judge all actions related to Iraq."