Obama vows to pull out bulk of forces from Iraq by mid-10
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
WASHINGTON, Jul 14(AFP): US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama vowed Monday to pull out the bulk of US forces from Iraq by mid-2010 -- but insisted on keeping "a residual force" to fight remnants of Al-Qaeda in the country for an unspecified amount of time.
And in a blow to current efforts by the administration of President George W. Bush, he also promised not to seek permanent
US military bases in Iraq, if he is elected president in November.
"As I've said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in," Obama wrote in The New York Times.
He added that the United States could safely redeploy its combat brigades inside Iraq at a pace that would remove them from the country in 16 months after his taking office in January of 2009 in case he wins the presidential election.
And in a blow to current efforts by the administration of President George W. Bush, he also promised not to seek permanent
US military bases in Iraq, if he is elected president in November.
"As I've said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in," Obama wrote in The New York Times.
He added that the United States could safely redeploy its combat brigades inside Iraq at a pace that would remove them from the country in 16 months after his taking office in January of 2009 in case he wins the presidential election.