On withdrawal
Would redeploy U.S. troops at a pace of one to two brigades a month. The Obama campaign says the proposed schedule would remove them from Iraq within 16 months and be complete by summer 2010.
Would maintain residual force to perform specific missions in Iraq, like targeting remnants of al Qaeda, protecting U.S. service members and diplomats, and supporting Iraq’s security forces.
Would commit $2 billion toward an international effort to support the more than 4 million displaced Iraqis.
Would make it clear that the United States seeks no permanent bases in Iraq.
Would pursue diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region, including Iran and Syria. Compact would aim to secure Iraq’s borders, keep neighboring countries from meddling inside Iraq, isolate al Qaeda, support reconciliation among Iraq’s sectarian groups and provide financial support for Iraq’s reconstruction and development.
The surge
Opposed January 2007 “troop surge.” In July, Obama said, “I have acknowledged repeatedly that the fact that we put more troops in there helped to quell the violence. The question is whether or not my position, in suggesting that we need to begin a phased withdrawal, we should have begun it earlier, whether that position that I took was a mistake. And I do not believe it was, because I continue to believe that the only way for us to stabilize the situation in Iraq — I believed it then, and I believe it now — is for the parties to arrive at a set of political accommodations.”