Obama calls for US combat troops out of Iraq by March 2008

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - Likely presidential contender Senator Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) called for the removal of all US combat forces from Iraq by March 31, 2008, to counter what he called President George W. Bush's "failed policy of escalation."

"The American people have waited, the American people have been patient. We have given chance after chance for a resolution that has not come," Obama said on the floor of the US Senate, as he pledged to introduce legislation calling for the troop pull out.

"The time for waiting in Iraq are over. The days of our open-ended commitment must come to a close, and the need to bring this war to an end is here," said the Illinois Democrat, a leading contender for his party's presidential nomination in 2008.

"In a civil war where no military solution exists, this redeployment remains our best leverage to pressure the Iraqi government to achieve the political settlement between its warring factions that can slow the bloodshed and promote stability," Obama said.

The legislation he proposed, dubbed the "Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007," would reverse what Obama called the administration's "dangerous and ill-conceived escalation."

The Democratic senator said his plan focuses on reaching a political solution in Iraq, protecting US interests in the region, and bringing the war to "a responsible end."

His bill is one of several resolutions and amendments to be debated in the Senate in the coming days on Bush's plan for a "surge" of 21,500 additional US troops in Iraq.

Obama's legislation calls for a mandatory drawdown of US troops to begin no later than May 1, 2007 with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008.

The bill also would allow for a "limited number" of US forces to remain in Iraq for the purpose of force protection, counter-terrorism, and training Iraqi security forces.

The legislation also would encourage stepped-up diplomatic efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region and would tie future economic aid to the government's reaching various "benchmarks."

Obama said that under his bill the withdrawal could be temporarily suspended, subject to the agreement of Congress, if the security situation in Iraq improves.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070131/pl_afp/usiraqmilitaryobama [link]