Obama's balancing act on Iraq withdrawal strategy

President Barack Obama leaned heavily toward field commanders' preferences in setting a time frame for an Iraq pullout as he weighed the fervent desires of anti-war supporters who propelled him into office and the equally strong worries of war generals.
"To this very day, there are some Americans who want to stay in Iraq longer, and some who want to leave faster," Obama said in his announcement Friday, summing up a debate that has divided the country like no other since the former President George W. Bush launched the U.S. invasion six years ago.
Obama's description suggests he arrived at a split-down-the-middle compromise with one of the first and most important tasks of his young presidency.
But accounts of the process from officials in the White House, at the Pentagon and across the administration, who all requested anonymity so they could speak more candidly about behind-the-scenes discussions, show otherwise.
At stake was the promise that most defined and drove Obama's presidential bid: to bring all combat troops home effectively, to end the war 16 months after taking office. The details he offered in an appearance Friday before Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., depart from that pledge in several ways:
The combat withdrawal will take three months longer than he promised. It is now be to completed by the end of August 2010, 19 months after Obama's inauguration. Though what Obama emphasized most as a candidate was his determination to bring about a quick end to the war, in the fine print of almost all his statements was a commitment to flexibility.
The withdrawal will not happen at an even pace of one combat brigade per month, as he had repeatedly said. Instead, it will be backloaded. The force posture for this year and into the first few months of 2010 probably will be essentially the same as it would have been under Bush. Under Obama's plan, troops will start leaving in large numbers probably only next spring or summer. The president intends to leave decisions about the pace to field commanders.
Even after the drawdown, a force of as many as 50,000 troops will remain, which has caused heartache among anti-war Democrats who wanted a fuller pullout.
This residual force will have a new mission: train Iraqis, protect U.S. assets and personnel, and conduct anti-terror operations. Those soldiers and Marines will remain in harm's way and engage at times in some form of fighting.
Understanding how Obama, his aides and his generals came to this plan must start with how the candidate arrived at his campaign promise.
According to one administration official, there was never any magic to the 16-month period. At the time Obama first made the pledge, there were about 16 combat brigades in Iraq, and military experts told the candidate that Iraq was too fragile for a drawdown much faster than one combat brigade per month.
As early as last July, Obama gave the military leadership a strong signal that they could influence his thinking.
During a trip to Baghdad, Obama privately assured Gen. David Petraeus then the top U.S. commander that although he favored a 16-month pullout, he would do nothing rash if elected to endanger security gains in Iraq, according to a U.S. official familiar with their meeting.
When he won, Obama and his team began meeting on the issue right away.
But the process didn't really begin until he held the reins of the presidency.
On Day One, Obama directed the Defense Department to start the planning for "a responsible military drawdown." Also that first week, he gathered top national security advisers in the Situation Room, with commanders participating in person and from the field via secure videoconference. A week later, he made his first trip to the Pentagon, to see the chairman and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all four uniformed service chiefs.