American Troops to Leave Iraq in 18 Months

In an attempt to adhere to his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq within 16 months, Barack Obama is expected to reveal a plan that will have the vast majority of U.S. troops out of Iraq by August of 2010. President Obama has stated repeatedly that his primary concern is the war in Afghanistan and that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters there present a much greater threat to the U.S.

Obama does not seem to be meeting with much resistance from leaders on the ground in Iraq or in his own council of military advisers. With the violence in Iraq under much greater control than it has been since the beginning of the war, Obama sees an opportunity to leave the country in the hands of its own security forces.

Although nearly all of the combat troops will be gone, the U.S. is expected to leave tens of thousands of military personnel behind in order to provide intelligence and security support, as well as additional training for the Iraqi army and police.

It will be difficult to envision the global media acknowledging that the U.S. has pulled out of Iraq when the total number of military on the ground there will have only been reduced by roughly half. If that ends up being the end game for the U.S., there will likely be continued calls for the remaining troops to be pulled back - or shifted to Afghanistan, where it is expected that a long and difficult road awaits the U.S. military.