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Posts Tagged ‘obama on iraq crises’

At the Pentagon, however, senior officials said that without a change in the tenor of Iraqi domestic politics, it was unlikely that any enduring American military presence could be negotiated with the Iraqi government.

Instead, these officials said, the two countries might look to create what one Pentagon official called “a smaller footprint and more flexible relationship.” That might include organizing joint exercises, inviting Iraqi officers to American military schools and offering to train Iraqis in other Middle Eastern nations where the United States has a presence.

“We’re prepared to meet their training needs, we’re prepared to engage in exercises with them, we’re prepared to provide guidance and training with regard to their pilots,” Mr. Panetta told reporters traveling with him to Indonesia.

The United States will still keep about 160 military personnel to guard its embassy in Baghdad and manage the continuing military relationship. There will also be 4,000 to 5,000 private State Department security contractors, as well as a significant C.I.A. presence. In Afghanistan, about 95,000 American troops remain.

“We fought to give Iraqis a choice,” said a frustrated senior officer who was not authorized to speak publicly about the White House’s decision. Another officer said, “Bottom line, it is a failure of the Iraqi government.”

American officials continued to express concern about gaps in Iraq’s security capabilities to withstand what they view as continuing threats of sectarian violence and Iran’s malign influence. But political pressure in Iraq to end the American occupation gradually came to dominate military imperatives.

“Iraq is a highly nationalistic country, and we were not able to dislodge the view that they should not have foreign troops on their soil,” said Christopher R. Hill, a former American ambassador to Iraq who is now dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

Mr. Obama’s announcement drew mixed reactions in Washington, with Democrats generally approving while Republicans voiced fears that security gains in Iraq could be reversed without an American presence.

“While I’m concerned that a full withdrawal could jeopardize those gains,” Speaker John A. Boehner said in a statement, “I’m hopeful that both countries will work together to guarantee that a free and democratic Iraq remains a strong and stable partner for the United States in the Middle East.”

News of the American withdrawal was met with scattered celebrations in Iraq. In Sadr City, the Shiite district in Baghdad that is a bastion of anti-American sentiment, roughly 1,000 people celebrated under the picture of young Shiite men who had been killed by American troops.

“The United States here was just like Saddam Hussein,” said Muslim Mohammed, 42, a government employee. “We never thought we’d get rid of Saddam, and we thought his sons would just take over. We thought the Americans would never leave and they would just create excuses to stay longer and longer.”

Mr. Obama, however, has stuck to his plans to end the combat mission and withdraw all troops, in part because he wants to channel energy to reviving the economy. “After a decade of war,” he declared, “the nation that we need to build — and the nation that we will build — is our own.”