Monday, April 27, 2009

Withdrawing from Iraqi cities . . . by redefining "city"

"The United States and Iraq will begin negotiating possible exceptions to the June 30 deadline for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraqi cities, focusing on the troubled northern city of Mosul, according to military officials. Some parts of Baghdad also will still have combat troops. . . . In Baghdad . . . there are no plans to close the Camp Victory base complex, consisting of five bases housing more than 20,000 soldiers, many of them combat troops. Although Victory is only a 15 minute drive from the center of Baghdad and sprawls over both sides of the city’s boundary, Iraqi officials say they have agreed to consider it outside the city. In addition, Forward Operating Base Falcon, which can hold 5,000 combat troops, will also remain after June 30. It is just within Baghdad’s southern city limits. Again, Iraqi officials have classified it as effectively outside Baghdad, so no exception to the agreement needs to be granted, in their view. . . . "

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/world/middleeast/27withdraw.html?_r=1&hp

In other words, the "anti war" candidate is now the president whose "withdrawal" plan will accomplish its goals by redefining the definition of "city". That should be a comfort to the spouses, children, families and friends of our combat troops in Iraq. Remember them?

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